Concordia shuttle bus service reduced this fall

The reduction comes as a result of the university’s financial situation

NewsHannah Scott-Talib — Published September 3, 2024 3 minutes

From Monday to Thursday, the reduced schedule will see the shuttle bus first depart at 9:15 a.m. from the Loyola campus and 9:30 a.m. from the Sir George Williams (SGW) campus, with Friday’s schedule modifying the earliest departure from SGW to 9:45 a.m.

In comparison, last year’s shuttle bus schedule saw the bus run from around 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. across both campuses from Monday to Thursday, and 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 p.m. on Fridays. 

“The aim is to continue to provide the service to the Concordia community, even as the university navigates a difficult financial situation,” Concordia University spokesperson Fiona Downey said. “A decision on the winter term [shuttle bus] schedule will be made later in the fall.”

A budget update was posted on the university’s website on Aug. 13, explaining that the university is “facing extraordinarily challenging times” and has approved a deficit of $34.5 million for the 2024-2025 school year. 

“If the shuttle bus isn’t coming as often, it’s really going to be a problem [for me],” fourth-year psychology student Soha Hashmi said. “All of my classes are at Loyola, so [I take it] pretty much every day.” 

She added that the shuttle bus was often full when she took it last year, before the reduced schedule. 

“The amount of times I’ve had to stand in line for like 20 to 25 minutes, and then there's such a big line around the Hall building that you still end up having to wait for the next shuttle, which takes even longer,” Hashmi said. “[It’s] to the point where, one time, my friends and I just decided to split an Uber, and everyone in line started doing the same thing.”

She said that another one of her concerns regarding the reduction relates to the safety of the shuttle bus over other public transportation measures.

“This is really going to impact everyone, but especially people like international students who don’t know their way around the city,” she said. “When you’re new to the city and you’ve never been here by yourself, taking public transport is really scary.”

Second-year student Maria José Jimenez Acosta shares Hashmi’s concerns. Jimenez Acosta said she sees the shuttle as a safe method of transport that first-year and international students can rely on to get from one campus to another. 

“If you have an 8:45 a.m. class, now you will just have to find another way,” Jiminez Acosta said. 

She added that many of her friends have labs for their classes that take place early in the day or later in the evening, which the reduced schedule would not accommodate. 

Hashmi expressed that, while she appreciated the university’s honesty about the financial situation, she wishes there could have been budget cuts made elsewhere.  

In response to The Link’s inquiry regarding the possibility of the shuttle bus being eliminated entirely by 2025, Downey stated that “depending on how things evolve, we are considering all options with regards to the university bus system.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 1, published September 3, 2024.