The Facts: Transportation at N.C. State is often crowded and sometimes inaccessible to students who live off campus. Transportation needs to increase its capacity to accommodate more students.
Our opinion: Students will be given the opportunity to be part of solution implementation, but requires us to be proactive and attend the town hall style meeting.
It’s not a new fact that many students at this University decide to live off campus either after their freshman or sophomore year. For that reason, effective and accessible transportation for students is imperative.
While walking on campus, it’s not rare to overhear those frustrated with campus transportation telling a story about how they missed the bus, causing them to miss class. Others can be caught lamenting the lack of Wolfline stops where they live.
According to HDR , the consulting firm Transportation hired to outline implementation of the proposed changes found that the three busiest routes are Avent Ferry, Southeast Loop and Gorman Street; these buses are at a 125% overload, which according to HDR is a “comfortable standee load.” However, if you ride these buses in the morning, “comfortable” can be a point of argument.
Luckily, NCSU T ransportation is willing to hear our gripes; there will be meetings held on Wednesday, April 11 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. in Witherspoon, Room 126 and April 18 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in Engineering Building 1, Room 1010. The meeting will be a forum to discuss expectations of campus transportation.
Unfortunately, attendance at past events similar to this one has been very low. As a whole, we have a tendency to complain about issues, but we never follow through when given an opportunity to create a solution to our problems. The inability to follow through stems from a very individualistic mindset. Students generally don’t participate in meetings and discussions because they won’t be here when the changes are implemented. Think back to Immanuel Kant if you’ve ever taken a philosophy course “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.” If everyone on campus operated under the same assumption, then nothing would ever get done, and N.C. State would never improve. It’s time we start doing more than complaining. Although attending a town hall meeting about transportation issues doesn’t sound like a glamorous or exciting way to make change, it’s important that we participate.
The University is undoubtedly expanding, and it’s going to have to accommodate a lot more students in the future, so being catalysts for improvement is to the benefit of future generations.
