UPrep students arrive at school in many different ways: carpooling, driving and biking. More than a hundred families pay for the custom Metro buses, yet students still feel unsatisfied with that bus system for getting to school.
Sophomore Huda Hassan has been taking the custom bus for two years. She feels that along with the time-consuming commutes and thousands of dollars in fares, there are other issues with the system.
“Just the experience of going on the bus makes it worse for me,” Hassan said. “Sometimes it’ll skip our stop or it like won’t come at all. Or it’ll take a really long time for it to come [even though] it’s on a schedule.”
However, the bus is oftentimes a convenience for students’ busy families.
“It’s useful getting home,” Hassan said. “And it definitely is an easier way for my parents and my family because there’s a whole bunch of people doing things at once.”
Hassan feels there isn’t enough attention placed on the bus experience.
“Not only is there an overpopulation of kids on the bus,” Hassan said. “But it’s really an inconvenience, and I don’t feel like it’s cleaned regularly, and it really smells and it’s dirty.”
Christina Coleman, who works in the school’s business office, is in charge of billing for UPrep riders.
“It’s unfortunate that there’s a big cost discrepancy between riding for free versus having to pay a large amount in order to ride one of our buses,” Coleman said. “So, some students do choose the free route, and they might have to transfer a few times before they get here; I wish we could be more help with that.”
UPrep’s custom Metro bus costs students more than one thousand dollars per semester, while the normal Metro buses have become free for all students age 18 and younger.
“It’s a struggle because the price just keeps going up,” Coleman said. “We have less riders, which is why some of the stops have been combined, and we’re still trying to run the program just to get people here.”
UPrep shares a system with both Lakeside and The Evergreen School, with a majority of riders coming from Lakeside. The school sees the partnership as a large convenience.
“They have 73% of the riders, so they pay 73% of the cost,” Coleman said. “But yeah, we’re lucky actually to be able to participate and have a far reach.”
Head of School Ronnie Codrington-Cazeau hopes that UPrep could have an independent bus system in the future.
“I wish we had our own bus system,” Codrington-Cazeau said. “I don’t see it changing in the next two to five years, but I’m trying to figure out a way to explore more options.”
Codrington-Cazeau feels that the bus collaboration with Lakeside raises challenges.
“We have latched onto Lakeside’s bus system,” Codrington-Cazeau said, “which means that we can’t be flexible with our buses.”
UPrep had a day off of school on Jan 18 due to Lakeside and Metro shutting down the system because of icy streets.
“It wasn’t really icy around here, but Lakeside closed down cause their campus was frozen. And so we had to go with Lakeside,” Codrington-Cazeau said. “Decisions like a snow day, right. It’s taken out of my hands.”
Though Codrington-Cazeau recognizes the conflict with the manner of the bus system, she emphasizes the importance of accessible transportation for students.
“We don’t want to be a neighborhood school,” Codrington-Cazeau said. “And so the only way to get people here from all over the city is to have transit.”
