SCAD Atlanta, one of the campuses of the Savannah College of Art and Design, is growing in size very quickly. It used to be much smaller than its Savannah campus, but that is no longer the case. The SCAD Atlanta campus is expanding—new buildings are being built and more beds are being added to accommodate this growth, but the school transport system is not getting this same attention. SCAD Atlanta has shuttle busses with 20 seats and standing room for about 10 students. These shuttles consistently fill up during the school week, including those standing from the back to the front, and passengers have no choice but to get off or wait for the next bus, which more often than not makes us late for classes.

Nearby universities — Georgia Tech University, for example — and even our other campus in Savannah have large busses that can sit much more students than the small shuffles at SCAD Atlanta. It does not make sense to expand the campus, add more housing for more students, but not also allow the transportation system to accommodate said students.

The shuttle system is also very unreliable; often the shuttles will be up to half an hour late, or will simply not show up at all, which of course makes us unable to get to class on time. The GPS/tracking system often does not match up with the actual shuttles.

The shuttles are also in poor condition; students have reported them having leaks, the window frames coming apart, and being extremely bumpy—more so than other busses / shuttles on the same routes.

Transportation is included as apart of SCAD’s student tuition — there is no option to not pay for it. Yet it is not nearly up to the standard it should be for reliable school transportation. Requiring students to pay for something that does not adequately provide for them is problematic.

The SCAD student population is calling on the university to recognize this neglect in student transportation, and invest in bigger, more comfortable busses the way they invest in campus expansion and recruitment.