When attending a university that has multiple campuses, one would expect that university to ensure that their students are transported in a safe and timely manner. However, this does not seem to be a concern to those in charge of handling student transportation at Moravian.

On various occasions, I have been left waiting far past the expected arrival time given on the MoCoGo app. Three, five, even ten minutes late is understandable, but I was once abandoned by the shuttle for four hours.

Thankfully, the business I needed to attend to on the main strip of town was during the day, otherwise, I would have been stuck outside. Luckily, I was able to occupy myself until the shuttle eventually arrived. Even though the school is close to the downtown area, we should still be able to rely on the shuttle system provided for us.

But because I feel my situation is particularly niche, I decided to pick the brains of some of my fellow Greyhounds. Here is what they had to say:

“As a commuter, I have repeatedly had to drive and walk through the ice to get to my classes,” Dominic Trabosci, ‘22, said. “I understand that the pandemic has made teachers more open to Zooming students in, but Zooming in to an in-person class is extremely frustrating and hard to follow along. The decision to not make all classes online on the first day of the semester was extremely misguided. The bottom line is that the campus does a terrible job with de-icing pathways and parking lots. It was dangerous getting to my classes when I was led to believe that it was safe enough to do so by the campus’s decision to remain completely open.”

I was appalled when I came back to campus after break to see mounds of snow and ice covering our campus. I know there is a difference between having snow on campus and having it become a hazard; however, in Moravian’s situation, it is showing to be a hazard. The extreme conditions that all Moravian students were facing on Jan. 17 were ones that all could have been avoided if all of the classes were moved to online or simply canceled. 

Another reason that the students should have gained an extra day of rest is that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day – a day that is supposed to be filled with remembrance and service towards our community.

Instead at Moravian it was filled with a lot of students tumbling and slipping on the ice outside. I find this whole situation mind-boggling, especially considering all the lawsuits facing the school concerning racial bigotry, both past, and present. Was having school on MLK Day really the best choice? 

“While I understand that the road conditions were icy on Monday on Main Street, it was unfair that students on South campus, who had classes on North campus, and vice versa, were put in a situation where they could not attend or had to risk walking on the icy sidewalks a mile to campus,” said Kaitlyn Furst, ‘22. “If it was that unsafe for the shuttles to be traveling, that means it was also unsafe for commuters to be traveling, and was also unfair that they were placed in a similar situation. We all know how to use Zoom at this point, so there was no reason why we could have done a virtual day or just even canceled completely in light that it was also MLK day.”

Moving forward, the school should gain a common level of respect for the students who make this university possible; with no students, comes no school. It makes no sense to me why they would cancel the shuttle services, yet still expect the students who do not live on campus (or those who do, but need to get from one to the other), to walk in the very same roads that they claimed to be too unsafe for their little Ford E450. 

Following that vein of respect, I have also experienced drivers picking up a whole busload of kids and then leaving for fifteen minutes without a word, leaving us on the bus waiting to get to our classes, dorms, or errands. One time I was waiting on the bus for so long that when the bus driver came back he told me and everyone else who was on board that he was actually done for the day and that we would have to catch the next shuttle. How is that allowed? He saw all of us get on the bus and waited until we were all seated for a good 20 minutes to say that he was done with this shift?!

 I have also had times where I was waiting patiently for the shuttle to arrive only to see them blow past me like I didn’t exist. In one instance, the shuttle got caught at a red light after not picking me up. I went and knocked on the door and asked if I could come on the shuttle and the driver gave me a hesitant look, asking me if I went to the school. Duh! 

I feel that if the students have to continue putting up with the blatant disrespect given by the drivers as well as the school, they should simply cancel the services entirely and allow all students to have their personal vehicles with them on campus free of charge.