Hofstra’s shuttle service has been a staple to the hundreds of students on campus that use it daily. Whether it’s transporting students to train stations or various shopping centers, or offering rides around the perimeter of campus, shuttle drivers are expected to stick to the schedules they are given, not allowing the service to accomodate students’ extraneous needs. With the shopping shuttle now running every two hours instead of one until 2 p.m., those needs grow as the service lessens.
According to Charles Forrest, the associate director of Public Safety, shuttle drivers transport approximately 500 students daily. He says this is what makes it difficult to accommodate the various needs of students, such as those who miss the shuttle and need a ride back to campus.
“A female student wanted us to have a shuttle on call because she scheduled her internship so it doesn’t conform to our schedule,” Forrest said. He explained that although the university has “two drivers that drive every day to Mineola and Hempstead,” not all requests – like the example he gave – can be fulfilled.
Forrest said that drivers must adhere to their schedules to keep the service running smoothly. “We don’t have an on-demand cab type service all of the time,” Forrest said. “We have to conform to the schedule. We tell students to be there five minutes before the bus and again we have been trying to do the best we can.”
Forrest suggests that students begin using public transportation services around Hempstead as an alternative if they miss the shuttle. He additionally noted that he has an open-door policy for any students that have issues with the service.
Abbey Sullivan, a junior TV writing and producing major, praises Hofstra’s inclusion of a shuttle service for students, but feels that its efficiency could improve.
“The shuttle service is a great concept. Without it, we would have to pay so much money out of pocket for cab services,” Sullivan said. “It’s a lifesaver for students like me who commute to an internship. However, there are definitely major issues with the shuttles that need to be addressed because the current state of the service is generally unreliable.”
Sullivan described a recent encounter with the shuttle that inconvenienced her. Coming in on a train to Mineola, she called Public Safety asking them to hold the shuttle for an additional 10 minutes so she could catch a ride. She was told that they would let the driver know; however according to her, when she arrived, the shuttle had already left.
“I was really upset because if my roommate hadn’t have been available to rescue me, I would have had to wait an hour simply because the shuttle couldn’t wait 10 minutes. It’s so unreasonable and makes me incredibly angry.”
Sullivan worries about her safety while waiting for the shuttle at the train station at night.
“My train home arrives back from my internship at nine and I have to wait in the dark at Mineola, usually alone, for almost an hour,” Sullivan said. “The timing is horrible, and at night, it’s just not safe.”
Sullivan suggests that the shuttle begin running every half hour, as opposed to a full hour.
Lauren Morgan, a junior global studies, geography and sustainability studies major, feels similarly to Sullivan in that the shuttle is a convenient service; although, it does have problems that could be improved upon.
“I have had bad experiences using the shuttle,” Morgan said. She explained how once, in winter, the shopping shuttle couldn’t accommodate the number of students who needed to get back to campus. Morgan said it was also the last shuttle before a three-hour break in the service. “There were about 15 of us that couldn’t get on the bus and the driver just left us there and told us to wait three hours in the Target parking lot for the next one even though it was freezing out.”
After calling Public Safety multiple times, Morgan said they eventually showed up, but with a van that could not fit all 15 of the students, causing some to be left behind to wait for another.
“The worst time was at the Hempstead train station, my train was a minute late,” Morgan continued. “The train was pulling into the station and I saw the shuttle leaving when the train hadn’t even stopped yet. I called Public Safety and they said it was my fault for missing the shuttle and that the driver waited until the platform was clear before leaving the station.”
Morgan feels the shuttle should coordinate with train schedules more to minimize students getting left behind.
Josh Ringler, a junior journalism major, believes the shuttle service to be mostly reliable and feels the busses are only ever late due to weather or traffic issues.
“I’ve taken them a lot and I can’t really complain about the service the school offers,” Ringler said. “LIRR is always late so maybe it’s a Long Island thing.”
The general consensus seems to be in favor of current shuttle procedures; however, improvements would not hurt. In a survey of 36 students, 68 percent said that the shuttle service is “mostly” reliable, many noting that more shuttle busses would fix the issue of efficiency that the service is missing.
