The Collegian

Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Opinion

A fair few of the students at Saint Mary's College, at least those without cars, complain about public transportation.

Their woes span the dramatic spectrum from "the bus is never on time" and "it shuts down too soon" to "it smells, the drivers are blind, and every time I ride the bus I'm afraid I'll be leaving in a body bag."

The way I see it, it all depends on where you come from.

In my home town, hitch-hiking is the only public transportation and there is no knowing how long it is until the next ride, so the bus is a huge step up.

Do I wish it ran after 6:00 p.m. on week-ends? Sure, but I don't think it's worthless. A person used to the San Francisco bus system might find the County Connection busses less than fantastic, but the County Connection is intended to be used primarily by commuters, and it achieves that purpose quite well.

In regards to students, it is in many ways unreasonable to expect anything more than what we already get.

The bus is free, it runs to campus despite campus being the only thing on the hill, it goes down into Moraga, Lafayette, and BART, providing convenient transportation to those places, and through connections it goes all the way to San Ramon and Martinez.

Besides the County Connection, BART is also a huge asset to Saint Mary's students.

To be able to conveniently and cheaply travel through the whole Bay Area is phenomenal. Traveling on BART from Orinda to Powell and back costs only $7.30 and transit to BART is free, courtesy of the bus system. To drive would be far more expensive, and public transportation reduces the amount of fossil fuels burned.

Public transportation at Saint Mary's and in the Bay Area is useful, economic, and environmentally friendly.

So why is everyone so upset about the bus not running late into the night on weekends?

Get over it.

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