Letter to NYU Transportation Services

Dear NYU Public Safety,

I greatly appreciate the fact that you provide free campus transportation for all NYU students. This almost makes up for your $20,000-a-semester tuition, additional lab fees, and outrageous book prices (especially on “sealed” packages that cost $100 over retail because of a special manual or lab book included that we won’t even use and can’t return once we’ve opened the overall package to get our textbooks out). But this year, you’re kind of pissing me off.

This is the first year I’ve had to ride the A bus on a regular basis. I rode the E bus the last two years with no complaints; it was usually a couple minutes late, but the trip was generally quick and I wasn’t ever late for classes. But you guys need to either retrain your A drivers, or donate part of the billions of dollars you supposedly raise each year to helping fix downtown city streets.

The ride is long, and that’s inevitable, living two miles from campus through downtown traffic. But these bus drivers you’ve hired don’t actually know how to operate a vehicle larger than a compact car, maybe a sedan. The way they hit the brakes frequently causes the multitudes of standing people on the bus to go flying forward into each other, or into the people sitting to the sides. I myself have been forced to share my butt with the faces of many surprised seated passengers.

Also, these drivers aren’t good at spotting potholes. Now maybe they’re inevitable; maybe they’re ubiquitous. But then, at the least, the drivers should slow down when going over them. I understand that they’re trying to get us to and from campus as quickly as possible, as that’s part of their job. But I would much rather take a couple minutes extra to get where I’m going to avoid the feeling of the entire bus bouncing so low after hitting a hole that my pelvis vibrates with the vehicle-to-pavement collision - over, and over, and over again.

One last thing: I know it’s technically still summer and all, but could you cut back on the bus air conditioning? I know I’m cold-natured, but I’ve had to start wearing hooded jackets to class because no matter where I sit or stand on the bus, freezing cold air is blowing directly at my face or body. Yes, it’s summer, but it’s not 95 degrees anymore; it’s more like 76 degrees, tops, and for people like me, that’s a comfortable room temperature. So just say no to air, save some gas, and keep me from having to pee halfway to my destination.

Thank you.

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