BS doesn't stand for "bus stop"

Sept. 21, the Indiana Daily Student reported that some campus bus routes are going to change starting Oct. 1. Campus Bus Services shortened the B bus route and scheduled the X buses to stop running an hour and a half earlier.\nThe change for the B bus is that it will no longer go to the stadium; the route will end at Fisher Circle by the Christian Student Fellowship and then turn around and go back down Jordan Avenue. In the IDS article, Operations Manager Perry Maull said that nobody rode the B bus to get to the stadium and suggested that students could just take the X or A bus.\nOne major problem with this is that the X and A buses are overcrowded enough as it is. After class, I've walked to where the X bus picks up students on 7th street by the Indiana Memorial Union. Anybody who has done the same after a 2:15 p.m. class will tell you that you have to wait at least a half-hour for the bus, if not more. The line of people stretches back hundreds of yards. If you're in the back half of the line, you will have to wait for a second bus because the first one will fill before you even get close enough to see it. The process is usually the same when waiting for the A bus. Swarms of students block the sidewalks near the stops and fight their way into the overcrowded buses.\nAnother problem with the route change is that, while Maull claims that no one rides the B bus to get to the stadium, this could be because bus drivers have growled at students for trying to do just such a thing. During the first week of classes, another student and I were both riding the B bus back to the stadium. After the last stop before the stadium, the bus driver discourteously told us that we needed to get off at that point. The other student pointed out that it said "Stadium pad" above the bus as part of its route. The driver still drove us back to the stadium, but it was apparent that he was deeply disturbed by the fact that he had to actually do his job. With a few exceptions, the campus bus drivers are one of the rudest groups of people I've ever met -- but that's a whole different story.\nInstead of having fewer buses, there should be more. Not everyone lives within walking distance of campus, and not everyone has an extra hour to spare to wait on the buses before or after class. I find it astoundingly ironic that while IU is enrolling more students than ever before, the University's actually reducing the routes to force more people onto fewer buses. While the over-arching significance of this change is minor, it is revealing of the University's tendency to sacrifice student needs to save a few extra bucks.