For some students who rely on the University’s Tiger Transit system, adjustments to a few bus routes led to a troubling first few weeks.
In response, SGA redeveloped two transit lines.
Members of the SGA cabinet were present at an Auburn Answers booth on Haley Concourse on Sept. 4 to listen to feedback about the Tiger Transit issues as well as on-campus parking, which has seen its fair share of complaints in the first month of the semester.
“The routes addressed the most were the South Donahue line and the North Auburn line,” said Julianne Lyn, executive vice president of initiatives for SGA. “SGA members then rode the referenced Tiger Transit routes during peak hours and documented their observations.”
After reviewing student feedback and personal evaluations, several SGA representatives met with Chris Harris, manager of transit operations, on Sept. 6 to revise the lines.
It had originally come about after a joint meeting between SGA and Parking and Transportation Services in the spring.
Students at The Connection apartment complex, located on the South Donahue line, reported significant numbers of riders overcrowding arriving buses during peak hours.
Regulars on the North Auburn line, on the other hand, said they faced long wait times due to the distance of the route, which stretches from the Mell Classroom Building to the Auburn Mall.
Harris and the SGA drew up solutions addressing both routes in the form of a new stop and an additional bus to South Donahue and North Auburn, respectively.
The new bus stop was added onto North Dean Road near the Creekside and Aspen Heights housing communities last week.
However, because of the street layout, it is located on the opposite side of the road despite there being no crosswalk in the area.
“The Tiger Transit office has reached out to the City requesting an added cut for the new stop, but has not yet received a response,” Lyn said. “SGA has already received numerous positive responses to this added stop.”
The new North Auburn bus was added to the line’s fleet of vehicles on Tuesday.
“The main points and complaints, concerns and comments that we’ve gotten about the transit routes are stops being taken away and routes being consolidated,” said Ashley Satterfield, senior in public administration and SGA’s executive vice president for outreach. “From the North Auburn route and the South Donahue route are the two routes people are most upset with.”
Satterfield said that the routes were switched in an attempt to have fewer routes so that people in one area could all use the same route.
“These routes were changed at the beginning of the year by transit, and the complaints are it’s taking students too long to get where they want to go or they’re filling up too quickly,” Satterfield said.
Bradley Biggs, senior in finance, lives in Creekside and said that she was affected by the route changes before the amends were eventually made.
“I’ve never taken the transit because it takes too long and doesn’t work with my schedule,” Biggs said. “My roommate quit taking it too, because it just takes too long.”
SGA sent out letters to every student who provided feedback through Auburn Answers after the additional meeting with Harris, notifying them of the tweaks made to the new routes, according to Lyn.
Lyn said SGA was pleased at how brief the process from start to finish was in listening to students’ issues with the routes and getting them amended with Tiger Transit.
“We were incredibly grateful that our request was taken into consideration, leading to its implementation,” she said. “The outreach day definitely confirmed that there was a need for change.”
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