The Observer, January 25, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 14
USG, Standard Parking team up to fix unreliable Greenie system
Since late last semester, USG has worked to finally resolve one of CWRU students' biggest aggravations: the Greenies. After sending out a brief survey last semester to receive student feedback on the ever-changing Greenie system, USG collected approximately 200 responses, categorizing the opinions and complaints in order to draft a proposal of changes to the system.
Although USG has made significant improvements to the Greenie system over the past few years – adding GPS devices and building better shelters – student opinion of the transportation mode still indicates dissatisfaction. Myles Nickolich, vice president of student life, said that of the 200 responses, over 150 contained insightful explanations and opinions regarding the flaws that remain in the system. Many of the issues raised by the survey are those that have been expressed by students on a regular basis.
"Now that I have been doing this for a few years, I see a consistent set of complaints that keep coming up," said Nickolich.
Among the repeat Greenie offenses are problems with the GPS navigation system, lack of stops in certain areas, bad conditions of Greenie shelters, and general Greenie tardiness.
"I hardly use them because they're never on time," said senior Marshall Hampton.
"I've more or less stopped using the Greenies completely," said Vincent Leone. "It's almost always faster to just walk wherever I'm going rather than stand around in the cold for a half hour hoping that the right Greenie will come by."
Junior Kevin McHugh echoed those sentiments, saying, "Waiting for a greenie often takes longer than walking to class, so instead of walking for 15 minutes in the cold, you wait for 20 minutes in the cold then spend five minutes in a warm bus."
Nickolich indicated that in one response, a student revealed that if was "quicker and more reliable to ride an RTA bus from the Village to the quad than to ride the Greenies."
"They are terribly unreliable, and whatever system that they have in which they're supposed to rendezvous at specific points along their respective paths, well, it doesn't work," said Junior Annie Griswold. "It's also particularly annoying that the Greenies stop outside the hospital for 10 minutes or more in order to change drivers. And more frustrating are the times when the drivers stop in the middle of the road to speak to one another."
The unscheduled breaks taken by Greenie drivers is a major concern brought up by the survey. Nickolich strongly indicated that Greenie drivers are never allowed to take breaks, but responses showed that breaks occurred often. Students who wished to report such behavior were sometimes unable to, however, because the drivers were not wearing nametags.
"Although encountering traffic on Euclid is unavoidable, I really think the problem both begins and ends with incompetent drivers," said McHugh. "There are a few drivers who do perform as they should, but the chances of encountering one is unlikely and not worth betting your punctuality. If the Greenie service is to be improved, it must start with a change in drivers. Currently, they can be seen hiding behind the Village parking garage for half-hour segments throughout the day or even grabbing a burrito at Chipotle. I'm not sure how hard it would be to train new short-bus drivers, but any effort and cost would far outweigh the now vestigial greenie system."
Using the survey data, Nickolich and the Transportation and Security Subcommittee are in the process of finalizing Greenie recommendations for Standard Parking and the University. Nickolich assured that each of the issues raised by the survey would be addressed in USG's recommendation.
Using the survey data, Nikolich and the Transportation and Security Subcommittee met with representatives of Standard Parking last December to present student concerns. No changes were proposed at that time, but more meetings will be held during the first three weeks of classes.
At the meeting, Standard Parking presented USG with a month's worth of GPS navigation data for all the bus routes, which indicated that buses are meeting expectations with a few exceptions.
"Each route has a brochure that includes a statement of how frequently a bus will arrive on that route. The GPS data indicated that with only a few exceptions, the buses are were meeting the published frequency," said Standard Parking Senior Manager Dave Tomco.
Currently, USG is in the process of finalizing Greenie recommendations. Nikolich assured that each of the issues raised by the survey would be addressed in USG's recommendation.
"We will likely be focusing on clearer posting of routes, improved Greenie shelters, more efficient routes, proper use of the GPS tracking system, more driver accountability, and a few more stops on the South loop evening Greenie to include other places like Little Italy," he said.
Standard Parking has agreed to fully cooperate with USG, and they have already instituted immediate changes, including more monitoring of the performance of the drivers on their routes, the number of unscheduled stops, and the reasons for such stops.
"We instituted 'shoppers' on the buses to provide additional feedback about the drivers' behavior, and increased the 'shadowing' of the buses," said Tomco.
Other changes include plaques inside each shuttle that state the name of the driver. In the near future, students will see the arrival of two new Circle Link shuttles. Later in the semester, two additional new shuttles will replace two older shuttles currently operating.
But students may wonder if this new effort will have as little an effect on Greenie performance as past USG measures. While the GPS tracking system and the current routes are effects of USG recommendations, the overall Greenie system has been little-improved in the eyes of the student body.
Addressing these concerns, Nickolich said, "Past efforts have been somewhat less comprehensive, but not completely without success. It is something that will likely never be perfect, but we can keep on trying," According to Tomco, the previous USG campaigns lacked specific requests.
Students should already be seeing improvements to Greenie performance. And for any major student concerns, USG and Standard Parking have set up a "Greenie Hotline" in the form of e-mail: uhcwrushuttle@standardparking.com.
After an initial meeting with Nickolich, Standard Parking has agreed to fully cooperate with USG, and they have already begun to monitor all Greenies – the performance of the drivers on their routes, the number of unscheduled stops, and the reasons for such stops.
"The improvement of Case's most liked and hated transportation system is a top priority of USG and will continue to be a top priority until the system is fulfilling its potential," said Nickolich.
