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A break up letter to the on-campus CATA buses

October 11, 2018
<p>A CATA bus pictured on June 8 at the CATA Transportation Center. <strong>Kaiyue Zhang</strong> <strong>| The State News</strong></p>

A CATA bus pictured on June 8 at the CATA Transportation Center. Kaiyue Zhang | The State News

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Dear on-campus CATA buses,

I’ve depended on you for two years. You’ve taken me to my classes, work and to my friends’ dorms. You’ve always been there for me. But you’ve changed and I can’t stay with you. 

Just to make sure you understand, this is a breakup letter. 

In the beginning of my time at MSU, I found it painful to pay $50 each semester to use your services, but I soon discovered it was worth the cost. I could depend on you and I didn’t have to worry about consistently being late for class. Now, anyone can use your services and, in result, you’re very disorganized and unreliable.

I can’t deal with you anymore and I have made the ultimate decision to discontinue my ridership with you. With all of you.

Several occurrences have led me to this decision. 

One day, I was on route 33 — the bus I have always relied on to get to both the Communication Arts and Sciences building and the Auditorium for class. While approaching the bus station, the bus driver said the route was going through North campus for a second time instead of taking the usual route to South campus. 

First of all, what? So many feelings went through my head. I was so confused. I had to get to class. How could this be happening? 

I had to exit and walk to class from the bus station. It felt pointless riding with you in the first place. I should have just walked the entire distance. But how was I to know that you were going to change plans?

As a result, I was late to class. I was infuriated. 

Another day, I was waiting at the bus stop for at least 10 minutes. Finally, I saw you in the distance and felt a wave of relief — I didn’t have to wait in the rain anymore. But when you approached, you drove right past me. 

Again, what? What is this “drop off only” thing? You’re just going to not effectively use the space you have? 

Both of these situations have happened to me over and over again. I thought you could regain my trust. I thought maybe you’d get the hang of things after a few weeks of being free to everyone on campus. But I was wrong. 

I’m almost always late to class because you’re just too unpredictable. You should’ve thought about what you’d have to do to accommodate for more students. Are there more of you? No. 

There has been a 30 percent increase in CATA bus ridership in the first month and a half of the academic year, according MSU Spokesperson Emily Guerrant. However, there are still the same amount of on-campus CATA buses. 

On top of that, you frequently only have a portion of the buses effectively picking up students, while the rest are only dropping off students. Also, you are changing the usual route without notifying students beforehand, leaving them to get off the bus to find another way to get to class on time. 

None of this makes sense to me. Again, I have been using your services for two years prior to this change and have only encountered minor issues. Now, I can’t even ride with you. I can’t even imagine how you’re going to help students in the winter. 

I’m a cheap person, but I can confidently say that I would rather pay $50 per semester to actually use your services because, currently, you aren’t of any help.  You have made me late too many times. You have left me stranded too many times. You have disappointed me too many times.

I hope you can find the inspiration to change for the benefit of students like me. I hope you listen to critiques and make modifications accordingly. 

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But, for now, it’s over. 

I think you really need to think through some things and come up with a more organized system. 

Until then, I will be walking to every class. 

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