The USC shuttle system, though considered the main mode of transportation for many on-and off-campus students, faces inconsistency and lack of accessibility, according to some.
Doug Fisher, a senior instructor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications who struggles with mobility, said not all parking lots line up with the shuttle routes.
“The N2 lot, which is the lot in front of the Coliseum, is useless 'cause there’s no transit anywhere near it. The university doesn’t have any buses near that lot,” Fisher said.
In addition to the N2 lot, the FS10 lot behind Colonial Life Arena and the AD11 lot on South Marion Street are not near any shuttle stops.
The Rider app is available for students to track the shuttles in live time and informs students when to be at shuttle stops. However, according to first-year Park Place resident Andy Tran, the app is often inconsistent or inaccurate.
"Recently, it's been getting really confusing because it will say it's approaching, or it's going to be here in, like, five or so minutes, and then it wouldn't be accurate," Tran said. "It was something like 15 minutes, or it would come a lot earlier than we would think, and then a lot of people would miss the shuttle."
This problem is compounded by the fact that shuttles are some students' primary method of transportation.
"Parking passes at Park Place are like, I think, 600 a semester or so, and students like myself, we can't really afford that," Tran said. "So we're forced to take the shuttle, but when the shuttle doesn't even work properly, it leaves us, the students, in a predicament."
Koby Padgett, a communications manager for the university, said imperfections in timing are to be expected.
"This isn't a subway system. Buses are driven by people, sometimes go faster or slower depending on their personal style, and it's just the nature of the systems, and it's also, traffic can be different and make things take longer than they think very often," Padgett said.
Fisher said he thought the problem could be a lack of communication between the parking and transportation sectors of USC's Parking and Transportation Services, leading to inefficient design. However, Padgett said in an email the two departments often convene.
“Both report to the same director, and she has joint staff meetings weekly," Padgett said in an email. "Shuttle routes were planned with lots and facilities in mind.”
Additionally, in the event of any changes to shuttle routes or parking regulations, Padgett said in an email, the parking and shuttle systems utilize technology such as the Rider app and emails to permit holders to communicate such changes.
Though communication lines are maintained between Parking and Transportation Services provided by the university, the gaps in the campus’ shuttle routes and service might be indicators of a deeper problem.
John Andoh, the executive director of Columbia’s public transit service, the COMET, proposed a fundamental re-mapping of USC’s bus routes upon looking at the shuttle route map.
“You need a centralized hub where everything goes so you can facilitate transfers between shuttles,” Andoh said. "It needs to be more like a grid format."
Andoh said reorganizing the university’s bus routes into a grid system would allow people easy access to the campus’ core while allowing them to make transfers without unnecessarily visiting the center of campus.
This proposal, along with other changes suggested by Andoh, including workshops for students and increased collaboration with transit organizations outside of the university, would ultimately aim to reduce congestion and the demand for parking spaces on campus.
A partnership between the COMET and the university’s transit service was proposed in August 2018. The agreement would outsource maintenance costs to the COMET and expand the university’s bus network. This proposal was rejected by Parking and Transportation Services in spring 2019, but a new draft is under review by the department, Andoh said in an email.
Padgett declined to comment on the details of this new proposal.
Feb. 28, 2020, 1:56 PM: A correction was made regarding John Andoh and an incorrect attribution. He did not say there was a deeper problem in the system.