Your phone’s cold exterior only worsens the numbing in your fingers as you stare at its screen. Transit says the bus was supposed to arrive at MacBride five minutes ago, but the tired crowd of students behind you says otherwise. What will it take for things to change?
Students at the University of Iowa are no strangers to this feeling. It happens so often that CAMBUS and Transit have become notorious among students for being unreliable. But how many students have actually reached out to tell Parking and Transportation about this?
Instead of filing our complaints with our friends, we should send them to CAMBUS. The only true way the service can improve is by notifying Parking and Transportation of the issues when they happen so they can be addressed.
CAMBUS Operations Manager Mia Brunelli agrees wholeheartedly. CAMBUS recently updated its entire GPS system to fix the weak signal that appears on Transit, but she says that doesn’t mean there can’t still be issues.
One of the most common is when Transit shows the bus icon at or near the next stop, but in real time it’s nowhere to be seen.
When this happens, Brunelli says to take a screenshot of the issue and email it to [email protected]. The same goes for whenever the “time until arrival” minute counter is grayed out or for any other issue that arises.
Sending these reports to CAMBUS with the date and time helps immensely because it shows exactly when and where the issue is occurring — and potentially what is causing it.
One reason for tracking these issues is what Brunelli refers to as dead zones. These are areas with little to no service, effectively rendering the space an internet desert. Although these areas affect transportation, CAMBUS is not to blame. Reporting areas bereft of service puts the onus on the university to fix the issue instead of forcing students to continue struggling.
One solution to this issue is replacing the usual bus stop post with a live display, showing users where the bus is in real time while they wait. Brunelli says these displays are in the research phase, and pilots could be operational on campus by summer 2025.
CAMBUS services also regularly check with drivers to adjust schedules to be more realistic and reliable. However, according to Brunelli, the UI campus has only become more congested over the years, making it harder to stick to the schedule.
Because of this, CAMBUS recently switched its scheduling model to service more frequent routes every five to 10 minutes. Nevertheless, mishaps can still happen. There have been many times when students were stuck waiting for buses for 15 minutes or more during the height of foot traffic.
Buses also have a tendency to follow each other, with routes like 35 Interdorm and 32M Blue arriving at the same place at the same time. This means no other bus may come for another 20 minutes. Issues like these are exactly why students need to write to CAMBUS so service providers can be aware of the problems and address them.
CAMBUS is funded by student tuition fees. If their money is used to pay for the services, then they are also entitled to ask for changes. CAMBUS was also gifted a $16.4 million grant from the Federal Transportation Administration in July to make improvements to the system. The funding is there to make the change, but people must ask.
CAMBUS is nowhere near perfect, but it is ready and willing to find solutions to the student body’s problems. By taking screenshots, emailing the Parking and Transportation team at [email protected], and telling them what works, transportation can continue to improve.