I’m certain that I’m not the only one who has an issue with Oxford’s bus system. I carefully choose the word system because calling it a bus service would imply that a service is actually being done. The reason I now avoid the O.U.T. like the plague is because it’s a massive inconvenience, consistently late and tragically stuck in the past while the university moves forward.
Earlier this year, there was a two-week stretch where I took the bus five times. Four of those five times, the bus driver stopped the very crowded bus at the law school to smoke.
Do we ever see pilots flying from New York to Los Angeles stop in Kansas City for a quick smoke? Is that how professionals handle their business?
On the issue of inconvenience, I am also certain I’m not alone when I say that the buses need to run to the Square on Friday and Saturday nights. By not running buses to the Square on these nights, the city government puts students in a tough situation: Drink and drive or pay for a taxi. In either case, the student loses.
The city’s very obvious support of the taxi service means increased tax revenue, but where is the government’s money going?
Certainly not towards anything helping the students. Demanding students to take an online Alcohol Education course and then denying them a free and safe way home from bars is grossly irresponsible.
I urge the student body not to settle. The O.U.T. is an affront to public transportation, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Things will remain the same unless people get together and lobby for serious improvements.
Oxford University Transit’s Superintendent Ron Biggs can be reached by phone at 662-234-3540 and email at rbiggs@oxfordms.net
Jonathan de Steuben
Sophomore English major
