College students suffer shuttle delays
Mark Hensch
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News
On Senior August Hardy's return trip from her home in Moline, Ill. this weekend, she expected to arrive in Hillsdale by midnight. But after her flight was delayed by an hour, a string of setbacks kept her waiting in Detroit for the college's shuttle until about 1:30 a.m.
"I was coming down with a cold and I had a really busy week ahead of me after break ended," she said. "I was worried that losing three hours of sleep would make my cold worse and make the upcoming week very unpleasant."
Hardy was not alone in her troubles. Poor weather and flight delays kept a handful of students waiting in Detroit until after midnight.
Senior Christina Miller said she waited for two and a half hours for a shuttle from Detroit.
"It seems like the shuttle service had one van running on a busy day when more students are coming in," Miller said. "Making people wait a long time seems like bad customer service."
Approximately 25 students called the shuttle service Sunday to report flight delays, which explains why some students had to wait hours for shuttles, Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said after speaking with Transportation Director Scott Campbell. Campbell refused direct comment.
"When flights are delayed, we can only do so much - we cannot send a shuttle every fifteen minutes," Péwé said.
He said a shuttle comes to the airport every two hours from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Flight delays created a bottleneck effect, so there were too many students waiting for rides for a single shuttle to take all of them.
Both Hardy and Miller had problems arranging the shuttles in the first place as well. Hardy said she had to call the shuttle service for confirmation of her pick-up after signing up online. Miller said she was not told that her pick-up point had switched from the airport to a nearby Marriott Hotel.
Despite these frustrations, Hardy said she enjoys the shuttle more often than she does not. She has used it nine times without incident since entering college. She said she does not blame anyone for her bad luck with this year's traveling.
"I am aware that these things happen but it is still frustrating," Hardy said. "Despite this, the shuttle system is a better alternative than driving six hours through Chicago to get back to Hillsdale."
"I was coming down with a cold and I had a really busy week ahead of me after break ended," she said. "I was worried that losing three hours of sleep would make my cold worse and make the upcoming week very unpleasant."
Hardy was not alone in her troubles. Poor weather and flight delays kept a handful of students waiting in Detroit until after midnight.
Senior Christina Miller said she waited for two and a half hours for a shuttle from Detroit.
"It seems like the shuttle service had one van running on a busy day when more students are coming in," Miller said. "Making people wait a long time seems like bad customer service."
Approximately 25 students called the shuttle service Sunday to report flight delays, which explains why some students had to wait hours for shuttles, Vice President of Administration Rich Péwé said after speaking with Transportation Director Scott Campbell. Campbell refused direct comment.
"When flights are delayed, we can only do so much - we cannot send a shuttle every fifteen minutes," Péwé said.
He said a shuttle comes to the airport every two hours from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Flight delays created a bottleneck effect, so there were too many students waiting for rides for a single shuttle to take all of them.
Both Hardy and Miller had problems arranging the shuttles in the first place as well. Hardy said she had to call the shuttle service for confirmation of her pick-up after signing up online. Miller said she was not told that her pick-up point had switched from the airport to a nearby Marriott Hotel.
Despite these frustrations, Hardy said she enjoys the shuttle more often than she does not. She has used it nine times without incident since entering college. She said she does not blame anyone for her bad luck with this year's traveling.
"I am aware that these things happen but it is still frustrating," Hardy said. "Despite this, the shuttle system is a better alternative than driving six hours through Chicago to get back to Hillsdale."
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