“Security speaking, how may I help you? Please hold… at what time?… Last name, first initial.”
Starting at 11:45 AM every morning, this constant cycle of questioning can be overheard as security mans the phone line. The security member on detail cradles the phone with one hand, while writing frantically on the shuttle reservation list with the other. The seats on the prime shuttles are filling up quickly. Some students come to the Brookdale lobby in order to sign up in person and avoid the inevitable call-waiting tone. Many other phone calls are not answered or received at all. It is a full out storm of shuttle requests, with one person navigating the phone lines, list, and in-person reservations. By 12:00 PM the storm is over, and the security detail weathering the tempest takes a well-deserved breath. The tone of the banter in the lobby and the atmosphere on the first floor is completely different. It is the calm after the storm, a lull of shuttle- related activity until the first van pulls up in time for the five o’clock trip uptown.
The majority of the shuttles are filled within this fifteen-minute period, and the ones that have openings will be filled throughout the day. Many students whose phone calls were not answered amidst the shuttle calling rush will either end up on a shuttle at an inconvenient time for their schedule, wait on standby, take the subway, or abolish their plans to go uptown all together. There is also the problem that many students are unable to call in during the first few minutes because they are in class. This is an issue that Stern women have been dealing with for years – but this year was supposed to be different.
With the introduction of the Shuttle App at the beginning of this school year, both YC and SCW students felt more in control of their shuttle booking experience. While many students would log on frantically at 12:00 AM to book a shuttle for that day, they were able to do so without the inconvenience of waiting on a phone line or going to the security desk in person. It avoided this storm of calls and dismissed the “shuttle rush.” However, due to technical difficulties, the app has not been open for use for the majority of the school year. This predicament frustrates many Stern students.
Some students, mostly upperclassmen, do not find the situation bothersome, as scheduling shuttles through security has been norm. Additionally, members of the Security team are not so bothered by the shift back to the phone calls either. One anonymous member of Beren’s security team said that while the initial calls can be overwhelming, many of the security detail do not mind the current arrangement.
On the other end of the spectrum are those who started their time on campus this past fall. For these students, the shuttle booking process was literally at their fingertips. The reversion to call-ins is almost like going back in time. Placing a call is so outmoded when the alternative is pressing a button on a touch screen with little time or effort required.
True, students often had to wait up until 12 AM in order to ensure they would get a spot on their desired shuttle. Many times the app would freeze or load slowly, early signs of a larger overall technical problem. Despite the hiccups, those who strongly favor the app over the call-in system strongly asserted that it is less frustrating to refresh a screen than to wait on a phone line to no avail.
One Stern student who falls into the new-on-campus, pro- app camp complained that the day of Cake Wars, a wildly popular event uptown, she “had to call in fifty-eight times throughout the day before reaching the security desk in order to reserve a spot on the shuttle.” She whipped out her phone to show proof in the form of her call log. “Needless to say, by the time my call was picked up there were no seats left around my designated departure time.” While she would not have necessarily made it onto a shuttle via the app, her experience was doubly frustrating in that she had needed to place so many phone calls.
Here is to hoping the days of calling in fifty-eight times to book a shuttle are almost at an end, and that the reemergence of the Shuttle App will occur soon. In the meanwhile, sit back, take out your phone, and watch the clock until it strikes 11:45.