College shuttle service proves highly popular

By Jennifer Majka

majk0004@algonquincollege.com

For the students who have no other options, the college and SA have created the shuttle buses to help students get to and from the college. They did their research and provided buses to the places that had the most demand. They refined the routes and added more when the demand called for it.

Hundreds of students ride the buses every day. Some students are sullen and complain about late buses and cramped quarters.  But most students have taken the time to say thank you to the college, whether by email or phone. Most offer constructive criticism that helps the men in charge of the shuttles refine the service to better serve the students.

Students on the bus are very congenial regardless of how long they have been waiting. One man offered his seat to another student who had more bags than he did and was standing in the aisle and trying to keep her bags out of other people’s faces.

Some students wait for hours for the bus, either because they missed the previous bus or it was too full for them to fit. Ashley Gordon just managed to make the 10:30 bus at Ottawa University on time even though she left her house in Gatineau at 8. She has to bus to the Rideau center, then walk half an hour to where the shuttle picks up students.

Joey Desarmeaux bikes from his home downtown to Ottawa University to catch the bus every day. Most of his classes are early in the morning, but he doesn’t even try to catch an early bus. “I don’t even bother” he says. “The 7 o’clock shuttle from Orleans is always super packed so I don’t even think it gets off the Queensway.”

It’s become a common thing for students to show up hours late for class.

 “I’m in the Civil Engineering program” Desarmeaux says. “If you miss a class you’re kind of screwed. Every time you miss an hour you’re three hours behind.”

Most students say they are lucky that their teachers are so lenient, but some find it easy to fall behind.  Christian Mukuna, a Business and Administration student, says his teacher won’t be mad he’s late, but the member’s of his group project may be, since he didn’t have time to call them. “I missed the first one, at 8 o’clock” he says.

Josée Poirier, a Small Media Enterprise Management student, says her teachers have been very understanding about her being late for classes. “I go up to my teacher during break and they give me a point for still coming to class.” Teachers have changed their rules on attendance and lateness to make it easier for students who have problems getting to class.

Jaime Edmonds, a Fine Arts student, says one of her teachers has introduced a buddy program, where students buddy up and one person from each pair goes to class each week and shares notes with the other, taking turns. “My teachers have been really lenient and really good” she says. Some let her leave early to catch the shuttle buses.

David Hall and Bob LeDrew, the men who handle public relations for the college, have been put in charge of overseeing the shuttle buses. They say that people have been very good about the buses.  Hall says he sees over 100 emails a day in regards to the shuttle buses. “People aren’t overtly rude, just frustrated,” usually with late shuttle buses, Hall says. He gets a lot of constructive criticism and thank yous.

 LeDrew said that when they originally set up the bus routes, they had to guess where demand would be the highest. They used the Ride Board as a starting point and went from there.