As we continue to debate the impact Ikea Shuttles are having on public transit in Brooklyn, another blogger has picked up this story as a way to highlight another private transit option. The new site Politics as Puppetry looks at the NYU buses and criticizes their elitism. Much like the Ikea Shuttles, NYU Bus system is designed to shuttle folks around Manhattan as they attempt to navigate the vast NYU campus. Unlike the Ikea Shuttles, only people with NYU IDs are allowed on this street-clogging buses. Politics as Puppetry thinks these buses and NYU — a drain on taxpaying resources — should allow non-NYUers aboard. [Politics as Puppetry]
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NYU doesn’t seem to need the giant buses that they use now to shuttle kids around. Most of the time, they look nearly empty.
They should use buses similar to Access-A-Ride in order to save a bit of space and fuel.
I think someone paying 50,000 dollars a year can be entitled to free (and slow) transit from the dorms outside the “Washington Square Core” to campus. Yes, they are elite, but is that really all that inconsistent with NYU as a whole? Don’t generalize the NYU student population as a bunch of rich snobs who can afford a monthly Unlimited. Many of them can’t–remember, they’re college students.
Kevin — Much like the subways, the NYU buses are jam packed during peak hours and less crowded the rest of the day and night. Also, many of their buses are smaller–the “NYU trolleys,” which, incidentally, run on cleaner natural gas.
Also, NYU itself doesn’t operate the buses, they contract out to Grey Line to provide the service. So, if we’re going to criticize NYU for excluding the whole rest of the city from their small transit operation, can we also demand that New Yorkers be allowed on those damn (also Grey Line) tourist buses?
Last, people ride the Ikea shuttles not because they are free, but because relying on MTA transit in Red Hook will get you nowhere fast. The NYU shuttles run, for the most part in places that are already served better by subway service (except for NYU’s Med Center in Kip’s Bay) and bus service. I think, given the choice, most working New Yorkers would opt to pay two dollars for significantly faster service rather than have a slow, free ride. True, you could apply this logic to NYU students also, but, then, shouldn’t all transit be free?