There were a lot of confused faces on the first day of school as students awaited an off-campus shuttle that would never come.
In previous years, Parking and Transportation Services provided Cal State Long Beach students with four Campus Connection off-campus shuttles. They would pick students up at four locations near apartment complexes close to campus, along with the regular west campus shuttle route.
Now those students have to board the various bus routes, such as Route 173, or catch any of the 90s. Most students are also walking on Atherton Street toward Bellflower Boulevard to catch buses moving toward the west turnaround.
Parking and Transportation Services announced in April that they were working with Long Beach Transit to alter the off-campus shuttle route to serve only students who reside in the Residential Learning College.
Elissa Thomas, CSULB’s rideshare coordinator, negotiated with Long Beach Transit marketing manager and CSULB alumna Marcelle Epley to continue the services of the Long Beach Transit U-Pass program for another year and replace the off-campus shuttle due to budget cuts and U-Pass’ popularity.
Alma Pena, a sophomore kinesiology major, has lived at Beverly Plaza Apartments for two years. She thinks the off-campus shuttle route should have remained the same.
“Last year, the shuttles were convenient,” Pena said. “Now, I would get dropped off near the Pyramid and take a long walk to upper campus.”
Before finalizing his off-campus housing decision, Miguel Can, a sophomore nursing major, planned to use the campus shuttle to get to and from school. However, because of budget cuts and to avoid overcrowding the buses, the off-campus shuttles are only providing rides to RLC residents.
“After a couple days of seeing the shuttle pass by me, I decided to walk to Bellflower Boulevard,” Can said.
There may be a change soon, since Long Beach Transit proposed changes to several of its routes.
The proposal extends Passport D and B, and eliminates some routes entirely.
However, service changes are still being debated over by Long Beach residents and students alike. The next public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28 at the Long Beach City Hall Council Chambers.
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