Despite recent changes, some students are concerned with Wolfline transportation to and from Centennial Campus.
Students are having difficulty with quick class changes between main campus and Centennial.
Torsha Bhattacharya, a planner for the department of transportation, said there are three bus routes available to students traveling between the two areas: The Village Link, the Southeast Loop and the Engineering route. She said the Engineering route is a limited stop route, which means it has fewer stops in order to make the trip faster.
Generally, buses are available at any stop every 12 to 15 minutes. Arrival times change at peak times during the day and fewer buses are available after 6 p.m., she said.
According to David Granger, a sophomore in computer science, overcrowding on buses is a major concern.
“I have seen buses fill up and not everybody can get on,” Granger said.
Brittany Bonilla, a junior in apparel management and marketing, said she experienced crowded buses last year.
“I was always standing shoulder-to-shoulder to other people,” she said.
After riding buses to Centennial last year, she decided that she would rather drive.
Slade McCalip, assistant director of planning and operations for the department of transportation, said he understands the buses can be overcrowded, but said they are doing the best they can with the available resources.
According to McCalip, student transportation fees are restrictive, and while a $10 increase was asked from student tuition, they only received a $5 increase.
“This basically accounted for the rise in fuel costs,” McCalip said.
When Granger was completing his course schedule last spring, he was concerned because his classes required him to get back to main campus from Centennial within 25 minutes.
“I wasn’t sure if [the bus] would go close to my dorm, or whether I would have to leave much earlier to catch a bus across campus,” he said.
Granger said he purchased a motorcycle to move across campus and to go to Centennial.
“I figured it would be worth the investment, since I’d be over there every day, and I’ll be there a lot in the future,” he said.
While Granger and Bonilla said they were unsure of the bus system, they said they have seen positive changes this year.
Bonilla said she has not heard many complaints, and Granger said N.C. State “[has] a pretty robust system, but I don’t think I could get the classes I need and still be aligned with the bus schedule.”
McCalip said while many students are intimidated with the system in the first few weeks, it will grow easier over time.
“Students can use the Transit Visualization System to see where their buses are on-line,” he said.
McCalip said complaints were high at the beginning of the school year, but have decreased since.
Another problem the department of transportation is trying to fix is traffic on Dan Allen.
McCalip said the road can become congested very quickly, and it slows down buses.
The traffic can cause buses to group together when they should be spaced out from each other. This can disrupt bus schedules, according to McCalip.
McCalip said they have hired a traffic engineering Ph.D. candidate to look at the problems on Dan Allen and try to find a solution. He said there are 29 buses traveling on that road every hour.
