Texas State’s new bus service, with updated technologies and strategies to increase efficiency, has garnered rave reviews from students.

Transdev, the new shuttle service provider, and the fresh system in its first semester of implementation are already making positive impressions on the student body with changes such as flexible service, longer hours of operation and Internet-accessible GPS locators, said Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services.

The number of students who view the bus system favorably increased from 62 percent last semester to 71 percent, according to a Transportation Services survey.

“I’d like to see us above 80 percent at some time, but a nine percent increase is pretty good from one semester to another,” Nusbaum said.

Shae Williams, design junior, said she previously never used the buses. The shuttle system last year was too slow, unreliable and inconvenient, she said.

“Even though I live up on Post Road, I used to never take the bus,” Williams said. “It would never be there when I wanted, and I had to wait forever for it get there.”

The change in perception cannot be attributed to an increase in the number of buses but rather the new schedule, Nusbaum said. During peak service times, such as mornings and evenings, additional buses are used to compensate for the increase in demand, she said.

“We haven’t added any more buses, but we’ve put more of those buses into service at different times,” Nusbaum said. “They gave us a scheduler, and this individual has been extremely helpful in finding and taking out times when buses were just sitting idle and not actually running.”

Williams said she spends less time waiting for buses and enjoys the ability to track them in real time on her phone.

“I like to be able to look on my phone and see where the bus is,” Williams said. “Then, when it’s right outside my house, I run out to the stop and get on. It works every time.”

Nusbaum hopes to implement a new passenger counting system for the buses next semester, she said. This will allow students to see exactly how many people are on each bus at any given moment.

Students can expect other improvements next semester as well, Nusbaum said.

“Last semester, students were sometimes getting stranded out in the city when the buses were making their last stops,” Nusbaum said. “We plan on making the last stop of the night back at campus now.”

Service hours will also start earlier and end later, she said.

First Transit, the previous shuttle provider, was in place at Texas State for 12 years before Transdev acquired the university’s contract in a recent bidding process, Nusbaum said.

A committee of students and administrators heard from six transportation companies, and after several rounds of consideration, the committee made its selection, Nusbaum said.

“It just so happened that we all liked Transdev and what they said they would do, and their cost happened to be the cheapest,” Nusbaum said. “We then went back to (Transdev) and asked, ‘Now is this your best cost? Can you lower it even more?’”

Transdev officials responded to Nusbaum’s bargaining by lowering their initial price, she said. The current contract is set for seven years. Three additional years may be added at the university’s discretion.

Nusbaum said she believes student bus drivers are an important resource and necessity for Transdev, and the experience can be positive for all parties involved. The interim director has been pleased with Transdev’s service so far and hopes the company will continue in its operations.

“They are very cooperative and collaborative,” Nusbaum said.

This article was written by Jon Wilcox and sourced from http://star.txstate.edu/node/3034