Valentina Del Pino/Contributing writer
Many students dread the commute between BBC and MMC in the Golden Panther Express, the refrigerator on wheels that has not followed its schedule since the semester has started.The $2. 50 ride with broken seats, blasting AC and a very noisy engine gets so packed that it offers space to stand throughout the entire one-hour drive.
Isabel Garcia, a junior psychology major, described a horrible scare she experienced while riding the Golden Panther Express. “I was sitting right behind the driver. I realized he was dozing off and he was getting really close to a Corolla. I had to slap his back to avoid the crash. I almost peed myself,” Garcia told student media.
Maria Lopez, a senior biology major, also confessed to student media that she was harassed by a bus driver and after multiple reports, FIU finally took care of the individual.
Some students and alumni have positive opinions about the ride since it’s a full hour ride for a nap that will recharge them before a class. Despite that one positive aspect, many students are still dissatisfied.
Not only is the Golden Panther Express infamous for being recklessly driven and extremely cold, its schedule is constantly inaccurate.
When the driver doesn’t take the Turnpike, arrival to the destination is delayed by up to 20 minutes, causing students to be late or to even miss class. Planning ahead and taking the bus as early as possible is sometimes not enough. The majority of the professors at FIU understand the bus struggle and accept it as an excuse for being late.
The online schedule promises smaller buses every half hour, but even the big buses cannot hold the amount of people that need to get to class, to an exam, or back home.
Four seats on the shuttle have been broken since last semester. These are seats that students could be using. Also, the “high quality,” complimentary Wi-Fi never works. It would be a cool feature to have, since most of the students use it for homework or even Netflix.
This is written in hopes that student opinions get heard. It’s unfair that students have to pay $5.00 round trip for a transportation that is insufficient when it should already be granted to us by charging it in our tuition.
The drivers are not to blame. These faults are the product of a faulty system which clearly needs some revision and improvements.
Students pay for everything under the sun in tuition fees. Parking and transportation should be a primary concern to FIU. Guaranteeing students efficient transportation that will get them to class on time without freezing their buttocks off is imperative to the success of students in their education.
The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of FIU Student Media Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Image from Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chodhound/6627327545/sizes/l
This is a great article that brings to light a very real and important issue that many students here at FIU face. As a student leader, I have heard accounts where students must chose between having lunch and attending class, because the bus is expensive. There has been little reaction to a petition that was signed last semester by over 1,000 students; this is a disconnect.