The start of term saw big queues and longer waiting times on some of BU’s bus routes. Students shared their frustration with the Students’ Union and BU’s travel planners had a more efficient service running in less than a week.

Reece Pope, VP Welfare at SUBU

“At SUBU we encourage students to send their comments on any issues relating to life at BU. Several students contacted me about the sheer number of people using the buses and how this was increasing journey times and sometimes making them late for lectures.

“Specifically they said the U1 bus was arriving later than advertised and buses were so full that students couldn’t get on further down the route.

“One student told me they arrived at Cemetery Junction for the 09:30 bus, which unfortunately drove past. The student eventually got on another bus but arrived at Talbot Campus half an hour late and felt too embarrassed to walk into the lecture theatre. The student was especially frustrated as they had paid for a yearly bus pass.

“I met with BU’s Travel Plan Coordinator Richard Wintrip and shared this feedback.”

Richard Wintrip, BU’s Travel Plan Co-ordinator

“If people have bought an annual pass they would expect to be able to use the bus service, so it was really important for us to act on this feedback quickly. In this case we were able to act immediately and worked with BU’s contracted bus company to have a solution in place in under a week.

“After speaking to Reece on Tuesday last week, I asked the bus company out to monitor how many people were getting on the buses at different points along the route and how long people were waiting. Much of the congestion was happening at Cranbourne House near the Lansdowne.

“On Thursday we arranged with the bus company to put on an extra bus on the U1 route and upgrade the U4 bus to a double decker to carry more passengers. We put this in place from Monday – less than a week from when we first spoke to SUBU about it.”

A more efficient service

When BU’s contracted bus company monitored the situation at 8:30 on Wednesday last week, there were 40 people waiting at the Cranbourne House bus stop and they had a seven minute wait for the next one. A week on and things look very different.

Richard said: “Today, there no one was left waiting at 08:30 and the buses were leaving on time with some spare capacity available.”

Reece said: “The reply from Richard was so positive and he definitely has the interest of students at the top of his agenda. I feel confident that any issues brought to my attention in relation to buses will be dealt with quickly and efficiently. The students seem happy with the results, if their Facebook response is anything to go by.

We encourage students to share their feedback through SUBU’s Ideas Forum.