Florida A&M engineering students are upset that the designated engineering busses have been canceled.
Last month, FAMU officials announced that the Venom Express Route III (V3) busses would not be taking students to and from classes.
“Changes were made in conjunction with the new bus routing system set in place by Star Metro’s ‘NOVA-2010′,” said Chief Police Calvin Ross.
“The Engineering bus is a necessity to the students of Florida A&M because it is relied upon to be the only transportation for incoming engineer students.” and also for other students who are lacking transportation and depends solely on the Engineering Bus to get to school daily,” said Le’Kwan Gregory, 21-year-old junior civil engineering student.
Over the last couple of years, students, faculty and staff have been able to ride the Venom Express, during the fall and spring semester, to travel between FAMU campus and the college of Engineering. The routes required no fare all day for FAMU students or faculty/staff.
Now, with the buses not in service, students are depending on city transportation or/and other means of transportation to get to and from school.
“Difficulties that I have faced with the new bus system are my late arrivals to class and being stranded on campus,” said Gregory.
Engineer Students are now advised by FAMU and StarMetro officials to take the D-Route from the College of Engineering to campus.
“Star Metro’s new Route – D (Dogwood), Route – M (Moss) and L (Live Oak) now provides service to our students that they did not have before,” said Police Chief Ross. “These new routes provide more accessible transportation than was previously available with just the Venom-III. The D-Route is a direct route from the College of Engineering to FAMU’s Student Service Center.”
“Many rumors of the bus not running have been spread between campus and the Engineering school, but out of the many the most popular would be budget cuts,” said Gregory.
FAMU officials have stated that they would make changes to the new system, if needed to accommodate students and faculty.
“The Department of Public Safety has met with the SGA president and is working to facilitate improved shuttle bus service for the entire student body here at FAMU. This includes the College of Engineering,” said Chief Police Ross.
“If the service that is currently provided by Star Metro does not meet the needs of the students at the College of Engineering, Star Metro has agreed to do an assessment and make route adjustments where necessary with the new system.”
For information about bus routes provided by StarMetro’s to the College of Engineering from FAMU, go to www.talgov.com/starmetro.