For accounting junior Caitlin Denison, riding the bus to campus this year means waking up an hour and a half earlier than she did last year. “I’ve gotten out to the bus stop more than 30 minutes before my class starts, and I still missed half the class,” said Denison, who uses the Tigerland route. “So I get to the bus stop about an hour early. It’s either you’re really early to class or really late.”Denison, like many other students on campus, has felt the negative effects of the reduced bus schedule. In response to a $1.2 million price increase from the Capital Area Transit System, and in lieu of a fee increase for the fall, the University reduced the number of buses running on campus from 21 to 12.In an Aug. 27 broadcast e-mail, the University said that to counteract the elimination of two buses from the Tigerland route, the route would be reconfigured and maintain the five-minute interval in between buses. The e-mail said the Highland/Burbank buses would increase to a 10 minute interval in between buses. But Jeff Becnel, construction management junior, said he waits as long as 25 minutes for a bus at the Highland/Burbank route. “In comparison to last year, the buses are much more crowded, and you have to wait 10 to 15 minutes longer,” Becnel said. “They may have just eliminated one bus, but it was enough to make a difference.”Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation, said his office has received complaints about the new bus system. “The main complaint we’re getting is the buses are overcrowded,” Graham said. “Students are also saying they’re waiting 30 to 40 minutes for buses.”Graham said because of Hurricane Gustav, he has not had time to compare the number of complaints received this year to the number received last year, but he expected issues to arise from the cuts. “With the number of cuts we had to make — from 21 buses to 12 — there was no way to avoid problems,” Graham said. “We were concerned, but we didn’t have many options.”Brandon Boyd, Student Government director of transportation, said the transition has “definitely not been easy.””Especially with a campus this large, you’re going to have a lot of issues,” he said. “It was expected to be difficult. We’re cutting a service that people are used to and rely on, and that never works out.”Boyd said a text messaging system for student to text complaints to SG and the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation was started two weeks ago. Since the implementation of the system, more than 100 complaints have been received, Boyd said. Students who experience problems with the bus system can text a complaint or picture to (225) 454-9523.Boyd said SG is working on ways to reduce the problems of overcrowding. “Other buses on campus that aren’t being used as heavily at certain times, we’re looking to reroute them to areas where students are being passed up,” he said. —-Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]