As of Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, the Neyland Express, a bus that primarily runs to and from Sorority Village and Agriculture Campus, adopted a new route to accommodate the closing of Phillip Fulmer Way. This new route has brought on many challenges.
Since the beginning of last semester, heavy daily construction has been ongoing to build the new Cosley Nursing Building. If you walk near Circle Park or Peyton Manning Pass while on campus, you will see heavy construction active in that area.
However, Neyland Stadium renovations are to blame for the partial closure of Phillip Fulmer Way. Many students, faculty and staff use this street to access parking garages after driving to campus. The Neyland Express is supposed to drive on this road daily, as it is a crucial part of its route.
While new construction and exciting renovations positively impact the university, they negatively impact those who rely on on-campus transportation.
With the closing of the street, the Neyland Express has undergone many route changes. With these changes, many issues have arisen for the students who utilize this bus. Many residents of Sorority Village rely on this bus as their main method of transportation to and from campus each day.
The new and extremely inconsistent route now goes directly through Pedestrian Walkway and utilizes Cumberland Avenue. A new route also meant the removal and adding of stops. TransLoc, an app that allows students to track buses, has also become inconsistent and inaccurate. Before the closure of Phillip Fulmer Way, the Neyland Express was convenient, consistent and reliable.
As a resident of Sorority Village, I depended on and trusted the Neyland Express to get me to and from class each day. The original route got me to campus in about 20 minutes or quicker. I rarely waited more than three minutes at the Gate 21 bus stop for the bus, and once I was on, it took roughly 20 minutes to arrive back at the village. Altogether, it was a mindless and seamless process.
Now, the process is hindering and upsetting. I would rather walk the 35-40 minutes to and from my classes than take the Neyland Express. With the closing of Phillip Fulmer Way and the new routes, it is taking the bus an exponentially long period of time to transport its students.
There have been times this semester it has taken me upwards of an hour to get back to Sorority Village. Other times, the bus driver got confused and missed the entire stop at Sorority Village. So, after sitting on the bus for 40 minutes just trying to get home, I realized it would be quicker to get off and walk the 35 minutes back to where I live. The TransLoc bus app is now entirely inaccurate, with some buses not even tracked by the app.
To bring up yet another problem, the Neyland Express will stop running altogether during basketball games or other campus events. Even though it will be the scheduled time the Neyland Express runs, it just will not show. Students are not even made aware of the change either.
Many of the girls I live in my sorority house with have come across this specific issue a multitude of times. This inconsistency has left them stranded on campus, with no choice but to walk back to the village in the dark or non-ideal weather conditions.
UTK Parking and Transportation has been made aware of these issues and in an email said that nothing could be done to help the situation.
True or not, it is unacceptable that so many residents of Sorority Village are experiencing such trouble just with arriving and departing from their place of residence and their place of education.
Whether a temporary issue is an update to TransLoc, adding more stops or attempting a new route, it is clear that something needs to change. Students cannot continue to experience these detrimental issues when all they are trying to do is get to class.
Katie Holloway is a sophomore at UT this year studying psychology. She can be reached at [email protected].
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