Problems with CATA
by Elyse Kuriata
There may be some complaints, but the CATA
bus service overall is meeting the needs of MSU students.
Oh, yeah? Try telling that to MSU student,
Patrick Terranova.
After waiting nearly an hour and being passed
by two full buses at a stop, an empty bus finally picked up Terranova
five minutes before his class began. "I was extremely mad," said Terranova,
general business administration and pre-law. "It should have been there
much sooner."
Although students like Terranova have stories
to tell of long waits and full buses, demand for bus service is currently
being met, according to Jeff Kacos, MSU's CATA contract administrator.
Last fall, MSU CATA routes 30-33 had 31-45
percent less people riding on Friday, according to Dave Smith, Director
of Operations for the Capital Area. To meet a decreased demand, the
number of MSU buses used were decreased, creating a 10-minute wait
between buses at stops.
Typically, the wait between buses is seven minutes during Monday through
Thursday's daytime service. The decreased number of buses used on Friday
results in significant savings to the university, according to Kacos.
Some like Lauren Paluta, integrated pest management,
don't even notice the change in Friday bus service. "I didn't realize that CATA
ran less often on Fridays," said Paluta. "I do use the buses on Fridays,
but it's never been an issue."
For those using route 32 to the commuter lot
on Fridays, this change may be more noticeable.
"The system made it hard to get to class on time when I was running
late," said Deborah Bonner, agriscience. "You have to leave your apartment
early in order to allow time for the bus to pick you up."
"Students have to learn the system," said Dave Smith. "If every person
waits until the last minute before class to get on the bus, it just
isn't going to happen."
The only way to combat the problem of full
buses during periods of high demand would be to have a bus waiting
mid-route throughout the day to serve temporarily crowded stops. This
would be too expensive and inefficient to be a realistic solution,
according to Smith.
As a solution, Smith says that students can
take earlier buses or try different routes to avoid full buses. "The ups and downs in demand
are unpredictable and we just can't respond to them," said Smith of
the daily fluctuations and high demand periods.
During the first weeks of school, numbers of
riders can be above average due to the increased number of students
going to classes, and in the winter, because of the weather, according
to Smith. That number declines as the semester progresses, Smith also
added.
Tiffany Bennett, zoology, said she thought
fewer students rode buses on Friday. "I know a lot of students try to schedule their classes
between Monday and Thursday," said Bennett, who then explained how
she plans ahead to leave earlier for the bus when she does have a Friday
class.
CATA keeps daily records of the number of riders
for each route, as well as the number of students left behind at each
stop, according to Jeff Kacos.
CATA and MSU also meet several times a year
to evaluate service and decide how many buses are needed to meet riding
demands, Dave Smith said.
"The reason that the frequencies [in bus service] vary is because careful
analysis indicated that demand could be still met during certain hours
if the frequencies were slightly reduced," said Jeff Kacos.
CATA is a governmentally funded agency that began serving MSU's campus
in 1998 because they are the area transit provider.
