Volume 67, Issue 3  

Students Demand New Van Service Take Back Seat
by Aaron Kraft

Every day, scores of students gather at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 185th Street awaiting either the intercampus or local Yeshiva shuttle.  Some are on their way to the train station, others to the bus stop, while many others are simply heading for a visit to Midtown.  Whatever their destination, students want to know that they can rely on the shuttle service.  Since last year’s major service overhaul, however, the administration is continuing to trigger vociferous student opposition that shows no sign of waning.

“Having readily available transportation is vital to the quality of education here at YU, as the city offers so many opportunities,” said Yeshiva College sophomore Menachem Wecker.  Even now that fall semester is well in session, however, there have been no changes in the new van service, which does not offer vans between 10 AM and 4 PM.  “What’s with this new system?” Sy Syms School of Business sophomore, Alan Scharf griped.  “These changes are ridiculous.”

For those unfamiliar, in the past, local shuttles ran on 15-minute intervals throughout the day.  Rarely was a student left stranded on campus or forced to walk to the subway station.  Under the new framework, however, anyone leaving campus between 10 AM and 4 PM has no other choice but to walk.

Although the new shuttles are larger and more comfortable than the old vans, their operating costs are higher, causing Yeshiva to scale back on their use.  Students are left wondering why, for example, on Friday, the busiest day of the week, the local shuttle does not run continuously.  Scharf, for one, reminisces on the days where “waiting forty minutes for a shuttle on Friday afternoon was unheard of.  The worst part of the ordeal,” continued Alan, “was that while I stood there, two buses for the 1 and 9 train passed, but they couldn’t go the five extra blocks to the A train.”

“This whole situation is not good,” explains Aaron Rothstein, a Yeshiva College junior.  “When I’m in rush and no shuttle is available, I either have to spend money for a cab or make the inconvenient and potentially dangerous trek to the train station.”  The unreliability and infrequent nature of the new system is especially difficult for Yeshiva students due to their packed schedule.  This becomes particularly vexing for a student who needs to make a trip downtown with only several hours to spare.  The walk to the train station combined with the extra travel time in the subway often makes such an excursion impractical, if not impossible.

While most of the complaints focus on the local shuttle, some students have their qualms with the Midtown service as well.  The frequency of service, although every 45 minutes as opposed to lasts year’s every 30 minutes, is not a sticking point.  However, several students wondered why there are no intermittent stops on the way to 34th Street.  “We are right at 72nd and 59th Streets, usually stopped at a red light anyway; why can’t some of us just get out?  Its not rocket science” wondered YC sophomore Ari Keehn. 

One considerable inconvenience is that the departure time for the Midtown shuttle often conflicts with the time that classes end.  “We are only humans; we can’t be two places at once!” exclaimed YC sophomore Leo Paige. 

Some complacent students, on the other hand, actually approve of these changes and are thankful for the new vehicles, which make the rides much more pleasant.  “Not only do they more comfortably accommodate more people, but now no one ever gets left behind because a van only fits 15 people,” explains Sy Syms sophomore David Glass.  

The administration is aware of the numerous issues and is working to ameliorate the problems.  According to Jeffrey Rosengarten, Head of Facilities Management, “it takes several weeks into the semester…to reach a schedule that is best for the most number of students.”  As a matter of fact, many of the concerns expressed by students were discussed on October 15 at the Student Life Committee meeting.  Rosengarten hopes to then be “in a better position to consider some of the adjustments to the schedule” in the near future. 

The consensus amongst most students is that the administration must make immediate changes to the van service and schedule.  If not, it will only promote the sentiment of one anonymous junior: “Policy like this only emphasizes the incredible bureaucracy of the Yeshiva asministration.”

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