Shuttle? More Like Shittle!

A month ago, one of the Harvard Shuttle buses collided with a biker at 1 a.m. A few weeks later, another shuttle broke down in the middle of the Quad and had to be towed. And recently, one driver erupted in a public tiff with a DHL delivery man who had parked his van slightly in the shuttle’s way.

Something is definitely going on with the shuttle these days.

“I’ve seen so many ridiculous things happen on the shuttle,” says Sara M. Flood ’10, a Pforzheimer resident. “Once, some guy stepped up onto the back of the shuttle and held on while he was drinking a beer!”

Passengers are witnesses to absurdities that take place inside the bus as well. “The 9:50 [a.m.] shuttle is always so crowded,” says Ben D. Smith ’10, also a Pforzheimer resident. “There’s literally no room, but there’s always that one kid who jumps in against the doors and steps on everyone’s feet. It’s crazy. People are pushing and spilling their coffee and girls are crying.”

For some students, the shuttle bus is a place to vent their pent-up frustration. Flood recalls, “One time there was some girl who just missed the shuttle, and the driver shut the doors on her. She was so mad that she literally ran after the shuttle the whole way in, screaming and banging on the windows and doors every time it stopped.”

While most shuttle drivers have positive relationships with their frequent passengers, they are often the unintentional sources of terror and/or nausea. “One time, the driver was explaining to me why she hated the way taxi drivers drove,” says Currier resident Delia A. Pais ’10. “She demonstrated this by braking all the time intermittently. She halted every three feet all the way down the street, jerking me and the passengers back and forth. It was weird.”

Disgruntled students on the shuttle often take their anger out on fellow passengers. “Once, the shuttle was really hot, so my friends and I asked this girl to open the window and she was like ‘ugh fine,’ and opened it,” says Tobey H. Duble ’10, a Currier resident. “Then when we weren’t looking she would shut it just to spite us.” Duble adds, “Also someone puked on the shuttle that night.”

Somehow, the 11-minute walk from the Quad to the Square isn’t looking so bad anymore.