Many UA students and staff have found it difficult to find a seat on the CrimsonRide during certain hours of the day.
“There are some days when I feel like a canned sardine on the buses,” said Kenny Spradling, a UA senior majoring in electrical and computer engineering. “It’s just ridiculous that their timing is so terrible. Two or three of the buses on the same route will drive right next to each other, which kills their 15 minute plan.”
Ralph Clayton, assistant director of transportation services, said the increased ridership can be attributed to many different factors.
“Obviously, during peak times the buses can be more crowded,” Clayton said. “We’ve changed our routes so that’s helped get more riders. The new northeast commuter lot provides more parking to students, so that could attribute some to the higher number of riders.
“Also, the Crimson route, which took the place of the Coleman-Quad Express bus, is sometimes crowded, but we have the same number of buses running that we had this time last semester.”
Clayton said the weather has also been a factor.
“Historically, we’ve seen that in hot-type periods, as well as when it’s cold, ridership is up.”
Stephen Dethrage, a sophomore majoring in journalism, said it wasn’t the tight spaces that bothered him, but the buses’ routes.
“I spent longer than it would have taken me to walk from Lakeside West to Reese Phifer on the bus,” Dethrage said. “I’ve been sick since Monday, and the asinine circles they take around campus made me six minutes late to class after I had left 30 minutes before it started.”
Clayton said the CrimsonRide’s peak hours occur between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“This is actually when some of our parking lots are really packed,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with class time. We expect a large volume of riders 20 minutes before class and right after classes let out.”
Clayton said the CrimsonRide keeps a spare bus to monitor and service the routes that become congested throughout the day, and hopes to receive two more buses to be used as spares by November.
