The Cal State Long Beach shuttle text messaging service is inconsistent and unreliable, according to some Cal State Long Beach students.
CSULB campus shuttles are equipped with a system called Syncromatics, which has the capability to track the shuttle position, occupancy and arrival time.
“The GPS navigation doesn’t work sometimes,” said Vin Pham, a resident at the Residential Learning College (RLC).
“I use both the Internet and texting and sometimes they don’t work,” Pham continued. “I text it and it will text back ‘no prediction,’ or it will be blank.”
According to the CSULB Rideshare website, students should be able to send and receive a text message with real time shuttle information.
Sustainable Transportation Coordinator, Elissa Thomas, said the live tracking and texting options should be working properly for all campus shuttles equipped with Syncromatics, except when a shuttle is getting repairs.
“When a shuttle is out of service due to maintenance or repairs, the shuttle company may be using a temporary shuttle replacement shuttle that is not equipped with Syncromatic,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that shuttles that are out for repair are usually back in service the next day.
Still, some shuttle riders have been experiencing technical difficulties with the feature. Some students explained that, although they were able to receive text messages from the services, those text messages do not include the shuttle’s arrival time.
The inability to receive shuttle arrival times has not only been an inconvenience but it has made some students late to class on occasion.
Pham said that he has been late numerous times because he has no way of knowing when the next shuttle will be arriving and when to go out and wait for it.
Amir Farsi, a sophomore music major, who usually rides the RLC shuttle, agrees with Pham. Farsi has had similar issues using Rideshare’s texting option.
“Sometimes there won’t be any predictions or the time won’t even change within a 30-minute time frame,” he said.
Besides not being able to receive arrival times, students also cannot get shuttle readouts which include details such as how full they are.
“I’ve been late to my 8 a.m. classes because the shuttle was late or full,” Farsi said. “It depends on what day or time you use the texting option because at night and in the mornings it is unreliable and especially on Fridays and the weekends.”
Unlike Pham and Farsi, Ashley Hadji, film major, uses the texting feature on a regular basis and hasn’t had any issues.
“It’s pretty convenient,” Hadji said.
If the internet tracking or texting feature isn’t working properly, Thomas recommends that students contact the Rideshare Coordinator for assistance at 562-985-409.
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