A BUG: WVU’s PRT fails to provide transportation and great service

For the past two semesters I have been plagued with a local curse. My new assistantship is working for the WVU Health Sciences Center Strategic Planning and Marketing department. Our office is inside the old hospital and parking here is extremely limited. Fortunately for me, WVU has this transportation system that takes you to the various WVU Campuses (as our campus is scattered around town), it’s called the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT). It’s a small car that seats eight and has standing room. There are a total of five stops and it’s free for undergraduate students, but it’s 50 cents a ride for graduate students.

It does take a great deal of more time to use the PRT, but considering I’d have to park miles away, I figured I’d save on gas, help the environment, and improve my health by walking and using the PRT. I’ve checked it, and I walk a total of 1.5 miles to get two work. Which is the same distance as it would take me to walk from my parking spot.My frequent use of the PRT this semester has lead me to feel very discouraged in the service.

I am ashamed that WVU brags about this service as reliable and reason for students to leave their cars in their hometowns, when at least one morning out of the week, it causes me to be late.Just this morning I knew the temperature was 7 degrees. I left early because I knew I was going to have an adventure, I arrive to the station and it is not even open, but there is a crowd waiting outside the turnstiles. I notice one gentleman has out a bus schedule, and everyone was trying to decide what to do as there was no indication as to why the station wasn’t open, how long it would be down, if it would open, and what we should do.

Finally, after 10 minutes the turnstyles opened, and the waiting began. One of the signs was out, so there was no indication as to where the car was going. After waiting 20 minutes, there were four of us waiting for a trip to Medical. With teamwork, we devised a system, when the car door opened on the track where there was no sign, I would hold the door, while one of the other gentlemen would call the PRT Operator and ask where the car went. We told him that we had been waiting for a car for 20 minutes… we continued to phone the operator like this for 20 more minutes. The entire time we were there, no one came to fix the sign, and the operator didn’t bother to send a car to take us to medical. Finally after 40 minutes of waiting, a operator told us we could talk this car to medical… it took us to engineering.

Seeing that I PAY for the PRT, I only bring 1 dollar in change with me everyday, it seems when you have more change, someone always needs it for their PRT ride, and your out 20 bucks by the end of the semester. This left me stranded at engineering but thanks to some of my new friends, I was able to use his card to get through the turnstile.

Ultimately it was an adventure. But I think that WVU needs to re-consider providing this service. It’s their campus that is split into so many pieces, and it’s their parking lots that filled to capacity. WVU needs to consider transportation and parking as apart of their service and image… perhaps they should stop taking as many students until they can handle the amount they currently have? Or perhaps they should always been ready to inform the riders of issues and have alternative ways to get to their destination.