There has been an influx of residential students this year, so much so that some residence halls in Goodwin are now triples, and some apartment-style residence halls like Cultural Living Center house four students instead of the usual two. It seems like we should be adding more modes of transportation for students who do not have cars, not taking them away. With some freshmen and sophomores living in the apartment-style residence halls this year due to space constraints, their living spaces now have kitchens, which means students need to buy groceries. It seems it would be only natural to accommodate their need to purchase groceries. As a student who does not have a car on campus but lives in the apartment-style residence halls, I find it particularly difficult to find a way to purchase groceries and supplies that I need.
While I am thankful that student concerns regarding the lack of transportation to Walmart have been heard, the issue has still not been fully resolved.
While I am thankful that student concerns regarding the lack of transportation to Walmart have been heard, the issue has still not been fully resolved. The Shark Shuttle to Walmart has been “added back,” but the schedule does not make sense. According to an email sent out by the Office of Residential Life and Housing, the shuttle to Walmart was added to the Downtown Shark Express, a route that has a rotating schedule of nine stops. Of these nine stops, Walmart is listed as stop number four after students have been picked up outside of the Commons Residence Hall. If a student were to take the Saturday Shark Shuttle to Walmart that leaves the Commons Residence Hall at 3 p.m., they are scheduled to arrive at Walmart at 3:10 p.m. Then, the students are not scheduled to be picked up again at Walmart by the Shark Shuttle until 4:45 p.m. However, the shuttle is not scheduled to arrive back at Commons until 6:30 p.m. This is an hour and 45-minute route from Walmart back to campus, making the total time of this Walmart trip from campus and back three hours and 30 minutes. With Walmart being less than 10 minutes away from campus, this seems absurd.
Now, you might also be asking yourself why the trip from Walmart back to the university takes over an hour and a half. The shuttle picks you up from Walmart and then proceeds to make stops at Galleria, Beach Place, Las Olas, the NSU Art Museum and the Museum of Science and Discovery. It seems like this Walmart shuttle was just thrown onto whichever route they could fit it onto without much thought.
In addition to the obvious problem of the time that this shopping trip takes out of a student’s day, there is also an issue when it comes to what we can purchase during this trip. If I wanted to purchase ice cream, or any other cold item for that matter, it would not be frozen or even cold by the time I returned to my residence hall. At that rate, walking back to campus with my groceries or even calling an Uber would be a better option.
During Shark Preview and campus visits, students are assured that the Shark Shuttle will provide transportation when needed, which does not seem to be the case within the past few months.
In the future, I hope that NSU considers these details when it comes to transportation for students. During Shark Preview and campus visits, students are assured that the Shark Shuttle will provide transportation when needed, which does not seem to be the case within the past few months. I hope to see the Shark Shuttle reinstall the shopper route since so many students seem to need it. A simple route that goes to Walmart, the Tower Shoppes, Whole Foods, The Fountains and Westfield Mall would eliminate students having to Uber to these destinations or go without them at all. Therefore, while I am happy to see the Shark Shuttle stop at Walmart is back, the system is still broken, so it needs to be fixed.
