USC bus route frustrations

When it comes to deciding on a place to rent, many consider access to reliable transportation to school or work as a deciding factor. This was the case for Louie Wang, a master’s student in USC’s communication data science program, “when I chose where to live in L.A, living next to the bus route is my, one of my biggest considerations.”

This helped her choose an apartment in downtown L.A, one block away from the USC Tower. It takes her three minutes to walk from her apartment to the SC Tower bus stop. But she soon learned the bus often has fewer seats than riders: “There are not many seats for students to take the bus, so I usually have to take metro or take Uber to campus because there are no seats for me.”

Wang is not the only one experiencing problems with the SC Tower to University Park Campus bus route. Lynn Zhou is a current student at the Marshall School of Business. She lives in downtown L.A. and also relies on ride-sharing apps for her commute, especially at times when the bus is unreliable. “They come and they just disappear in front of you and they will stop, but they will not let you in,” said Zhou, who then has to wait on the sidewalk until the next bus comes in half an hour.

Marcus Arvizu is the Senior Manager of transit operations for USC Transportation. He gives this reason for the overcrowding problem: The SC Tower bus is only for students, faculty, and staff going to and from the SC Tower -- not for those who live nearby.

“Our message is to try to be as consistent as possible that the purpose is not necessarily to give people a ride who live in the area. It’s meant to give people a ride who have business or academic purposes at that building if that makes sense,” Arvizu said.

But that’s not made clear on the bus schedule or USC’s transportation page. On the USC Buses “about” page, the bus system’s purpose is described as the following: “Whether you are commuting to work, getting around campus between classes, or just exploring the wider Los Angeles Community, our bus system makes it easy.”

Students and faculty who’ve found housing in the DPS area north of the University Park campus can rely on the C-route for their commute, but what about those who live downtown? The transportation office suggests the student U-PASS program, which allows registered USC students free and unlimited rides on most of LA Metro’s rail and bus lines.

So, if you can’t catch a USC bus, you can catch a public one.