To ease transportation prices on campus, the Students’ Union in conjunction with Uniconne commenced the operation of a transportation bus for students on November 6, 2023. The Union shuttle kicked off by operating between the bus stop and the campus gate. The plan was to expand its operations to Damico and Road 7. Unfortunately, the Union Shuttle stopped operation abruptly with no information given to students as to why it stopped.
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In an interview conducted by ACJOAU with the CEO of Uniconne, Mr John Alade speaking on why the movement of the students’ union shuttle has been on hold for a while now, and should the students expect the bus again. He said, ‘The system has been crippled majorly due to the involvement of the conventional transport system. The town-and-gown relationship is important to the school and should not be severed. Explaining the term ‘town and gown’, he said ‘The town and gown refers to the communities of a University town, ‘town’ being the non-academic population and ‘gown’ being the university
According to him, the Union Shuttle caused a rift as students tend to use it more and gradually moved away from the town buses. Furthermore, he said, ‘We are also in the works of retrieving all Shuttle cards that might be remaining with students’
Students Share Opinion
Speaking with the students, a student named Samuel a final year student in the faculty of Social science, stated: ‘It actually comes in handy when there is no bus but they are just not consistent which is not admirable, there was a time I was stranded at the bus stop and the bus came in that evening, it was like a blessing!’
Divine, a 200 level student in the faculty of Arts also said, ‘It was quite a nice initiative as it was like bliss for those of us that enter campus very late at night and yeah It is worth it the one time I entered, was great’!
A student of the College of Health Sciences said ‘The bus has been of great importance to us during posting, as it goes around Oauthc and road 7 but we have no idea for the abrupt stop’.
Town Gboro Driver Explain
In an interview with Mr Oluwagbade Adewale, a town gboro driver, He said: ‘The use of union shuttle will affect the students as the union shuttle can not transport all students with the limited amount of buses and they would lose its maintenance with time as they lack the capacity for all students, they have tried it some years back but they could not keep up’. He referred to Futa and other institutions that their public transporters are well recognized in no clash with any other form of transportation.
He said they collect a pass for their bus 12,500 per year which increased this year, they have a target to meet, and they do this work for students, but the union shuttle idea seems inconsiderable on their part. If the student union transports students, they will be at a loss as some of them have children in this school and other schools.
Mr Oluwagbade Adewale concluded by advising the students’ union to have a good thought about the decision while considering the students.
‘I Have Nothing To Say About It At The Moment- Students’ Union PRO
In an interview with ACJOAU correspondent on February 4, 2024, the Public Relations Officer of the Students’ Union, Omisore Elijah said ‘We can hope that the union shuttle resumes soon’ but at the time of publication, the PRO said ‘I have nothing to say about it at the moment”.