10 Questions We All Want To Ask About The Purdue University Transportation/Bus System/Parking Situation
Alright, Purdue University transportation is something you all have been frustrated about at some point on campus. Whether it’s the roads you drive on or the “Sloop” you’ve taken countless number of times, you just cannot understand some things about the system in place. Sometimes you’re just asking, why…?
1. What’s with the confusing one way system?
At any point of time during your stay here at Purdue, you have definitely driven down a one-way street, the wrong way. If not, you are very, very attentive. It is the most frustrating thing you will face as a car owner. An extension to this question is, why is State Street so complicated? It’s rather too twisty for a street that is supposed to be straight.
2. Why does the Sloop randomly stop and wait for 15-20 minutes?
You know that time when you’re 10 minutes from class time, getting into the sloop and its icy outside. You are not prepared but then the unthinkable happens, it stops outside CL50 for an unusually long time and you’re doomed to freeze and walk into class with a red face and frozen eyelids. Ever wondered why this happens? The driver just sits there. Why must we all be fooled by the hope that we will get to class? This is the worst part about Purdue University transportation!
https://www.instagram.com/p/mnco6XwgUA/?tagged=silverloop
3. Can we please have a shorter wait to cross the Northwestern Intersection, PLEASE?
Have you just waited and waited and punched that button to make the machine do the “wait” rap until he says “Walk sign is on, across, Northwestern”? It is so frustrating when you’re trying to get to Armstrong for class, and you’re wasting precious minutes you could have used to get a bagel at Amelia’s. Can we cut that down a little?
4. Why do the bike lanes just randomly end when they could have gone on?
Seriously, this is dangerous to a certain extent. The lanes just merge and then the pedestrians have no idea when a bike is coming and just walk across. Can’t blame them, but it’s just a vicious cycle.
5. The only bus to Walmart takes 30 minutes for a 10 minute drive.. How?
As students, we’re going to need to do budget grocery shopping a whole lot more than usual. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a bus that went directly to Walmart and then made a bunch of stops around the area? That would not only ease up the taxi traffic but also make it so much more cheaper for us to do groceries, don’t you guys think so?
6. Seriously, why is the parking garage for residence halls so far from the actual residence halls?
We get it, space optimization and priorities, but can’t we have a parking garage closer to the lot opposite First Street Towers? Ever had that issue when you come back from a long drive and its really cold outside, but you aren’t even done yet. You have another leg of your journey left: the walk from the McCoutchen parking garage to your dorm somewhere around First street, Earhart, Shreve or Windsor. Its bad, but not bad enough to take that $40 ticket and park the car the next morning in the garage.
7. Can we have more Uber drivers please? Surge charge is a blow to the wallet!
If you are of eligible age, need money, and don’t mind driving around after class, sign up! Uber is necessary and much cheaper than regular cabs (which are not even available half the time). Every time there are many students out there is a surge charge almost in no time. Why not make it a win-win for everybody and have more Uber drivers? We save money and you make it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPZEhkUgt6Q/?tagged=uberdriver
8. Why is it so hard to get a rental car around here?
Imagine this, you land into Indy or Chicago airport, only to realize you have less than 30 minutes until your shuttle leaves, and the next one is in 2 hours. What do you do? If you rent a car, and drive it down to Purdue, you will pay too much and it isn’t even guaranteed that the drop off will be open when you get there. Furthermore it isn’t even close to campus. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could rent a car as a group, drive it down and return it AND be able to walk back after dropping it off? Zipcar, listen up, we need more zipcars on campus! Us students without cars struggle to get around on a long weekend because everything is booked out so fast. HELP!
9. Why are there always never-ending pedestrians on the Jishke Drive-Third Street intersection?
Can we have a light there already? Due to the heavy student traffic, it is almost impossible to get across that stop sign. I mean, I cannot tell the students not to cross, but it would be nice to have a regulated signal light, right? Don’t want to be waiting there FOREVER.
10. Can we have a reverse Sloop?
Come on, tell me you haven’t thought about this before, guys! You don’t want to get into the bus at CL50 and have to make the whole round just to get to EE. Especially when it is so cold outside, you are stuck between freezing or potentially being late to class. What would you choose?
