As of writing this blog post I have literally (or audibly) come off Gloucestershire Star Radio 107.5 after having spewed my opinion into a phone about why the University of Gloucestershire’s decision about the bus service is ludicrous, outrageous, abysmal, disappointing and shameful. The recording, along with other interviews and pieces of information to do with the bus service, will be released tomorrow morning. I must make it clear that I love the UoG, but I cannot agree with their decision about the change in bus service. It will affect too many aspects of university life and may even act as a catalyst to put students in danger.
It is difficult to call this bus service new because ‘new’ holds connotations of improvement. What the UoG have just done is downgrade their bus service, without discussions with the Student Union. You may know already the bus service will now cost 70p for each ride and will only run until 7pm. This link has been confirmed correct.
As with my last post I have given some of my opinions on the matter but now I have some new points to make:
- How can the University have the cheek to charge for buses between campuses at our own University? Part of being on a multi-campus University should mean free transport between campuses.
- How come our libraries will stay open longer than our bus service will run?
- How can the University call their self a green University when students will now need to use cars and taxi services in the evening?
- How come the University did not discuss this decision with the Student Union? This seems outrageous and quite demeaning.
I have enough words in me to write a whole speech about this decision. I will spare you that for the time being. Please join in with our protest on Facebook.
Has to be said, the University of Gloucestershire has some terrible errors of judgement at times.
They did this to save money, but they waste so much money elsewhere (dig around the back issues of Space and you’ll find the £30k per year chauffeur to ride the chancellor around).
The policy of not letting first year students bring cars has nothing to do with their new ‘green’ approach. It’s been the policy since they expanded the University. Residents were worried that expanding the Uni would grind traffic to a halt, so the Uni made this concession to them. They only added it in as part of their green policy once they realized it would strengthen their cause.