I have noticed a problem on campus.
Okay, that may be an understatement. As I am a commuter and do not have to worry about the soaring prices of campus food and have little contact with the two out of five students who are alcoholics in training, my mind focuses on another aspect of Ball State University that has taken a turn for the worse.
I just have one question to ask: whose stupid idea was it to create the "red" and "green" shuttle loops?
That is not to say that the shuttle buses were ever completely efficient.
Last year, one might have noticed that about half-way through the year things started to get very unorganized and several shuttles would be on one side of the street, trailing one another.
The first bus in this line would be packed to the brim with students, but by the time the third or fourth bus would get to these stops, there would no longer be any people left to pick up. Meanwhile, the stops on the other side of the street would begin to pack with people waiting for the train to get around to them.
It was almost faster to walk to class than to wait for this army of shuttle buses to escort you to your destination. The promise of a 6-to-10 minute wait turned into 2 minutes if you were early and 15 if you were late.
So, logically, what should Ball State do about this conundrum? A sane, slightly less creative person would insist that the bus drivers stick to a rigid schedule to ensure that students would have plenty of time for "redefined" education.
Unfortunately, the powers that be decided to throw practicality out the window and devised the current system. They then strapped some festive colors onto it to remind us of Christmas and marketed it as an improvement.
Ball State apparently has a publicist Brangelina can only dream of.
With this system, many of the same original problems occur.
The green lines are for students on their way to the stadium and university apartments. These buses alternate with the red buses, which are said to take you on an "express" route through campus.
The red buses seem to have no problem, although I fail to see the need for this faster way. If a student desperately needs to avoid going all the way to Scheidler or the stadium, all they would have to do is cross the street and catch the shuttle that is facing the opposite direction.
The trouble transpires when students need a ride on the green line. Because the students on their way off campus can only ride every other bus, both the wait and the people are about doubled. This doubling happens at all the other stops until, by the time the bus leaves campus, hardly an inch is unoccupied. Also, students who intend to stay on campus have no problem packing onto these green buses, thus increasing the capacity.
I guess my point is that maybe the university should not lose sight of the small, everyday things we may all take for granted. The shuttle is an excellent, low-tech convenience that almost everyone utilizes.
How about we spend a little less time on trying to become "Cutting-Edge Cool" and a little more on offering standard services that work better than average.
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