Stockton’s shuttle service is one of the headaches brought upon Stockton students in recent years, with shuttles often being off-schedule, not showing up on the trackers, or having unexpected delays. One of the changes made to the shuttles in the Fall 2024 semester prompted this year to be even harder for students who rely on the buses to get around campus.

Previously, there would be at least one bus circling around campus on Saturdays and Sundays. Today, there is no shuttle service for Galloway on weekends whatsoever. In the fall semester, The Argo published an article on the shuttles, showcasing that 91% of polled students agreed that Stockton needs weekend shuttles. It was written before winter settled in, when the weather was still decent with warmer temperatures and less rain.

Now with the freezing temperatures, strong wind gusts, and snow days blazing, Stockton’s residential students have had to stay in their dorms to avoid the terrible weather. I have personally spent a lot of money on groceries and DoorDash to get food on the weekends during this time, as I don’t look forward to walking 10 minutes to campus past the lake in the cold just to get lunch from one of the limited food options on campus.

Even without going out in the cold, I still got sick from the freezing temperatures. With the new meal plan, I can’t even get a full meal from the Market without spending my limited Flex dollars. Even with only one shuttle running, it was still a lot more convenient when we had some form of transportation available during the weekends so we could get something on campus without having to pay out of pocket for food.

Many other students have also felt the same way about walking to campus on weekends. Alyssa Bernstein, a Housing 5 resident, has frequently gone to campus on weekends for food or to meet with her peers. She commented that “it’s so inconvenient and uncomfortable to walk across the lake when it’s freezing cold outside.” Bernstein further stated, “I don’t have a car on campus, so I have to DoorDash my food. It’s not right for me or any other student. Walking outside across the lake in this weather is a nightmare.”

Wind gusts are extra strong over the lake, which makes it much colder there than anywhere else on campus. I myself experienced these winds while crossing the lake one Saturday, which left my face dry and irritated from the cold. Since then, I have opted to stay in my dorm and eat there.

Myana Blackwood also commented, “It’s hard for students with no car or friends to get them around, especially during the weekends, since people go home. By having the shuttles run on weekends, it would help students still on campus get around and not have to stress about not getting to their destination.” While campus is significantly quieter and emptier during Saturdays and Sundays, there are still a lot of students that stay on campus and go to the Academic Spine to study, do homework, have meetings, and get food.

Another point brought up was that, with no shuttle service, weekend events are less frequent and less attended. If there were shuttles available, more people would be willing to go to campus to enjoy events, especially weekend events held by the Stockton Entertainment Team, who have a whole position on their board dedicated to planning activities on weekends.

One anonymous resident who lives near South Lot also expressed, “We should absolutely have weekend shuttles, especially in the winter. I feel like they could at least have weekend shuttles just during bad weather if they’re so concerned about the cost of it.” They also added, “It’s hard even on the weekdays, since South Lot shuts down early and lots of us stay on campus late at night for class and stuff. I’ve had to walk to my dorm in freezing, wet weather from North Lot. South Lot doesn’t even have anything to cover us from the weather; it’s a bench out in the open. I always end up walking all the way to the E-Sports place so I can be warm [and dry] while waiting for the bus.”

Erika Wentzell, an Honors College E-Board member and Accounting major, said, “As a freshman, I have watched students walk in the freezing cold to Lot 8 to grab their cars because they don’t have time on Friday to do it. The students shouldn’t have to go through that because the shuttles aren’t running. The freshmen have it the worst, it seems.” She then added, “The freshmen are also getting used to the campus, so we should be able to provide comfort for the majority of them! Every student should be able to feel this sense of comfort!”

Breanna Vanaman spoke on behalf of Stockton’s Education majors. She informed me that Education majors’ clinical hours usually finish around 4pm– when South Lot bus finishes its shift. “For those of us that live on campus: we have to park our cars here [in the Residential section] and then walk over there [to campus]. We have less than 30 minutes to get to class, so we can’t wait for the [North Lot] shuttle.” Health Science majors also face similar problems, which affects a large portion of students on campus, since Health Science is one of the most popular majors and biggest programs at Stockton.

Vanaman added, “I understand that we have to schedule our jobs around our class schedules, but we have to work. How else are we paying?” She pointed out that having shuttles be more available and reliable to students will facilitate many students’ schedules, since the 10-15 minute walk around Lake Fred makes a huge difference for people balancing out their schedules between academics, clinicals, and jobs. She has also paid more out of pocket for food on weekends with the lack of a weekend shuttle service on Galloway campus and lack of proper food options at the Lodge before 5 p.m., especially in the winter weather.

“I know people are going to say that summer’s coming up, and that it’s gotten warmer,” Vanaman acknowledged, “However, what about people that don’t want to walk over to campus because of a health issue? What about people with disabilities on this side of campus? How does that help them? […] For most of us, we can walk, but that should be our choice. With the amount that we’re paying to come here, we should have a choice on whether we walk to campus or not.”

Many students that were interviewed felt that the students’ voice was not taken into consideration when the decision to reduce weekday shuttles and eliminate weekend shuttles was made, pointing out that Parking and Transportation should have made a survey for students living in Housings 1, 4, and 5 in order to hear their opinions on the shuttle system.

“It went from one extreme to the other extreme without finding a common ground between us,” another Housing 5 student, who lives further away from the Light Path, said. “All these changes like the shuttles, the library, and the meal plan have been made without considering most of us. I personally feel like they only ask a few and assume that their opinions are the same as the other hundreds of students on campus.”

Residential Life has recently had panel discussions with students about housing and how the school can improve in terms of our housing options. Some students pointed out that Parking and Transportation should do something similar in order to consider all shuttle-using students on campus. A Health Science student with a minor in Disability Studies from Housing 1 said, “I feel like Stockton isn’t inclusive enough when it comes to shuttles because we have disabled and handicapped students living here that rely fully on the shuttles. On weekends, they shouldn’t be expected to cross the lake just to get breakfast or pay out of pocket to get food either. None of us should be expected to do that if we have meal plans. We’re college students so we barely have enough money.”

Breanna Vanaman also relates, since she has a herniated disc in her back that makes prolonged walking painful and tiring– the cold weather aggravates her back and causes further pain.

I have also had problems with the Samsara tracker, with the tracking oftentimes being behind, or buses not showing up at all on the screen, especially at night. Some of the buses aren’t even compatible with the tracker, such as the South Lot bus. “They need to fix the entire shuttle situation,” Vanaman concluded. “Until they figure out their parking issues, [reliable] shuttles would be nice, and weekend shuttles would be nice.”

Another frequent complaint from students is about the Samsara tracker used to track the shuttle buses. Many students feel that the previous tracker, Ride Systems, was much more reliable. When polled on Instagram, 80% of students voted that Ride Systems was a better tracker while 20% of students prefer Samsara. “Ride Systems was fine,” Vanaman commented. “I could use it without my [cell] service. Now, to use the new link, you have to use [Wi-Fi or] cellular data, which some of us don’t have. How is that fair to those who don’t have money for that?”

Contribute to the petition for Stockton’s Parking and Transportation Office to bring back weekend shuttles and prove that they are necessary and important for students by signing this petition on Change.org.