E-bus times change to reflect realities

Regular patrons of the E Route of the Campus Bus Service might have noticed a change in its weekday schedule since returning from the winter break. The route will now require five to 10 more minutes to complete than it did before the changes. This effort was made to more closely follow published schedule times, said Kent McDaniel, the assistant director of transportation. \n"We have had problems maintaining last semester's schedule so we adjusted it to make it more reliable," McDaniel said. \nLast year, the IU Bus System eliminated the little-used D Route, and shifted the E Route to assimilate parts of the D Route into its regular schedule. The E Bus now makes stops near Forest and Wilkie Quads to better accommodate students living in those residential halls. The added distance combined with traffic delays along the route caused a slight time problem. \nThe Campus Bus Service received a few complaints last semester about the E Bus not maintaining an accurate schedule some of the time, prompting the change. \nMcDaniel said the Bus Service consulted students about the change, and "they agreed that it was better to publish a realistic schedule than to try and meet one that we knew we couldn't guarantee." \nThe E Bus originates at the Evermann Apartments, travels through campus passing by the Indiana Memorial Union, the library and several other heavily student-trafficked areas, before arriving back at Evermann. \nFreshman Joe Sobek, a resident of Eigenmann Hall, uses the E Bus two to three times each day, traveling to and from class. \nSobek said he did not think that the bus schedule needed changing and said he believes the only major shortcoming of the E Bus is that it does not seem to run as frequently or as much as other buses on campus. \nThe Campus Bus Service said it does not anticipate much complaint from the change. \n"I don't expect to get any reaction over the schedule adjustment," McDaniel said. "I think students will appreciate having reliable service." \nNew E Bus schedules have been distributed throughout residence centers and other locations on campus, and can also be found at http://iubus.indiana.edu/