The new "Green" ville just may leave you behind

On July 16th ECUSTA announced major changes were ahead for the bus system and for students. In an attempt to comply with the university's request, the ECUSTA staff researched what would have to be cut to meet the 10% decrease in service hours.

That meant that the 53,000 service hours logged last year would be cut down to 48,000.

So our question was, was the new bus route really a movement towards a greener Greenville or a cleverly hidden budget cut made to look environmentally friendly?

With our pirate rants full of transit rage, we began to look deeper into what was really going on with the buses.

We have all seen it, the buses are too far in between, too crowded and are an accident waiting to happen.

The biggest complaint so far has been that there is not enough room to accommodate the amount of students using the transit system.

According to Wood Davidson, director of ECUSTA, the buses can hold of a max of 80 people. That equals out to about 40 people sitting down with another 40 people standing up.

Doesn't sound comfortable does it?

With so many students missing or waiting on later buses, many have taken their chances and started driving to campus. But finding a parking spot anywhere remotely close to campus is nearly impossible, as we all know.

Maybe its some evil scheme to get students to buy parking passes; taking what little money we have these days.

Sadly, parking passes are expensive and as it is spaces are limited.

So what is a student to do? Not go to class?

It seems as though getting on campus is almost as hard as making it downtown at a decent hour without taking a cab.

Although the ECUSTA route changes were based on ridership, they seemed to lack in thought about the headaches that would ensue for angry students and the emissions that they are creating by forcing numerous students to drive.

If we are going green, then why are we using more vehicles than ever to get to campus? Seems a little silly to us.

According to the ECUSTA website as of Sunday, relief is on the way.

The staff admits the current system is not working and gives suggestions on different strategies to deal with the current problem.

So when it comes down to it, the "Go Green" attempt is nothing more than what it is, an attempt. One can only hope that the changes come sooner than later and before anymore students miss class or even give up using the ECUSTA system all together.