Rutgers buses have had some delays, inconveniencing students

With a yearly budget of approximately $12 million for buses at Rutgers University—New Brunswick, Rutgers admits that there have been delays due to buses breaking down, said Dory Devlin, a University spokesperson, to The Daily Targum. 

The University has been adding buses the past couple of semesters and are constantly managing the number of buses and replacing buses as needed, Devlin said. 

“When a bus breaks down our dispatcher immediately calls our road mechanic and safety manager to assist the bus and, depending on the breakdown location, Rutgers police also are notified to respond to the area. We do this to try to lessen the wait time for passengers by repairing or replacing the bus to return it to service,” Devlin said. 

For the first week of the semester, Rutgers recorded 184,900 “passenger trips,” or each time a person rides a bus, on New Brunswick’s bus system. A typical bus breakdown could affect up to 50 passengers, Devlin said. 

“We track the number of passenger trips on a daily basis, which helps us determine the number of buses that we dispatch on each route. If we are experiencing heavy loads on a specific route during a day we will make adjustments to the way buses are routed and dispatched,” Devlin said. 

Yet the buses have become a major complaint for students who must commute between campuses day-to-day. 

Jessica Gieger, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said that after waiting 45 minutes for a REXL with spots on it to pass through Livingston campus, the bus she was on had its alarm go off. 

“As I neared my stop, the alarm (on the) bus went off,” Gieger said. “After a few minutes, the bus driver finally pulled over, restarted the bus and told everyone to get off, except for those who were getting off at the next stop.” 

Unsure of her safety, Gieger said she got off the bus. 

“I hopped off the bus and had to walk over 30 minutes to my dorm,” she said.