<p>Disclaimer: I am an otherwise happy parent of a new student to the campus this fall. As a college graduate myself, and remembering just how haphazard my own move-in experiences were, I think UA should be praised overall.</p>
<p>With that said, the move-in experience was done extremely well. There were TONS of volunteers and everyone was very friendly and helpful. My son moved into Presidential, and it is an absolutely top-notch facility. Expensive, but worth it I do believe.</p>
<p>However, the University really dropped the ball in a couple of areas. The transit arrangements were ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. They make such a production of “Call 348-RIDE” whenever you need assistance in getting from one facility to another, especially in the rain. When we finally were able to get through to dispatch, they acted as if they could not be bothered. When we finally were able to flag down a shuttle, the driver initially argued with me about not being able to take us back to the hub (where we were forced to park) and then during the ride proceeded to tell us that they just couldn’t afford to staff the shuttles.</p>
<p>Sorry, but when we are spending this much on an education, there should be AMPLE transportation available, ESPECIALLY on a critical week/weekend such as move-in. Those big city bus vehicles should have been rolling continuously. </p>
<p>Another issue was with Fresh Foods in the Ferg. How on earth do you justify that food service location being closed all day on Saturday??? Again, just not leaving a good impression with the parents, in my opinion.</p>
<p>In closing, I am still very happy with our choice for a school. I just hope someone from the University monitors this site and makes some much needed changes in the transportation and food service areas when it comes to move-in. The university normally does a good job with communication and information, but there is significant room for improvement here.</p>
<p>rolltide90- sorry for the tough issues. We moved son in on 8/10, and none of the food places were open yet for us to grab a bite on campus at 7pm. Then we were told none would be open until 8/12. So that was an issue we had as well. </p>
<p>We did not try to use 348 ride, but they did have shuttles running back to the cars during the move in process. The only issue we had was that we needed to get back to the car after move in times were over. We had to walk because shuttles were not running. Not a huge issue, because it was not raining. We were just exhausted, and would have preffered not to walk! If it had been raining, it would have been an issue. </p>
<p>If you were moving in on bid day, I am sure it was even more chaotic than the previous weekend. </p>
<p>All in all, our experience was like yours, very good and organized, only a few small things.</p>
<p>I think 348-Ride does need shaking up. It’s a rather new service ( I think it’s about 3 years old), but it still hasn’t gotten the kinks worked out. </p>
<p>Not only do I think that polite, but firm, parents need to call the “powers that be” at Transportation and complain and insist on improvements, but certain employees (deans, etc) need to complain as well. </p>
<p>There should be an online system where kids can make their “to and from” appts. While “to the minute” reservations aren’t supportable, there should be maybe a 15-20 minute range that kids can schedule. </p>
<p>If Transportation isn’t receptive to the complaints, then go above them. I would even contact Dr. Bonner. </p>
<p>The fact is that Bama has a very large number of OOS kids, most who do not have their own cars…so 348-Ride should be a reliable source of transportation.</p>
<p>If 348-ride can’t get their act together, then get rid of it and expand the Crimson Ride.</p>
<p>Yeah, 348-RIDE cannot really be relied on. It is convenient – at least in theory, if not always in practice – to make sure students have a safe ride home after going out etc, but you do have to anticipate the possibility of waiting 30-45 minutes during busier times. A lot of times drivers are good about picking up people they see waiting if you try to flag them down, even if they are headed somewhere else, so you may have just gotten unlucky by having a driver who argued with you.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. It is one of very few “needs improvement” areas of UA. :)</p>
<p>There has been an escort service for years. 348-ride is a lot older than 3 years. It existed before the Crimson Ride was started in 2007. </p>
<p>It has tremendously improved over the years. </p>
<p>Also there is an online system located at 348ride.ua.edu. A student has to sign in with their mybama account and can arrange a pickup. Once a driver is assigned, the rider is notified that a driver is on the way, and the van is tracked by gps and can be monitored on the web page. </p>
<p>When the driver arrives, the phone number provided is called again. Previously, there was no phone call.</p>
<p>The last time I checked, 348-Ride isn’t set up where kids can schedule drop-off and pick-up time online. Students should be able to do so. </p>
<p>One possibility, 348-ride could have a couple of “designated vans” that picks kids up from their dorms, brings them to a hub location, and then takes them to their destination…and then the reverse. The “designated vans” would have the sole job of making the rounds and picking kids up and bringing them to a hub where their “connection” would be. </p>
<p>Maybe for hours between midnight and 6am, the hub method wouldn’t be needed. </p>
<p>No matter what…someone with some vision needs to redesign this system.</p>
<p>Fresh Foods is usually closed on weekends as there is less demand for on campus dining on weekends. Lakeside dining should be open however.</p>
<p>348-RIDE has its issues, especially with operators not giving a ETA for the van instead of taking a reservation and hanging up. I would like to see more 348-RIDE vans, but it is a matter of UA paying First Transit to operate more of them, though I think some of the vans are occasionally operated by UA employees.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, the union contract for the drivers has higher pay rates for driving the 348-Ride vans than it does for driving full size buses.</p>
<p>One of my major annoyances with 348-RIDE is that it will only drop off and pick up passengers going to/from downtown Tuscaloosa at the Downtown Intermodal Facility. When there is a concert at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, 348-Ride will not take students there as it is out of their service area.</p>
<p>I don’t like that if you call to be taken to a destination, you can’t also arrange the pick-up time at that point. </p>
<p>For instance, if you want to taken to X at 6pm and then be picked up at 9pm, you can’t schedule both at the same time.</p>
<p>Instead, you have to call around the time you’re ready to leave. Granted, they may be concerned that kids will arrange a “pick up time” and then delay their leaving. And, yes, often a student can just call 30 minutes before they want to leave to correctly time their pick-up. But, when my son had a weekend meeting off-campus, he couldn’t just call during the meeting to arrange his pick-up time. He had to wait til the meeting was over, then call, and then wait 30 min for the pick-up. At least if he could schedule online by phone, he could have discretely done THAT during his meeting. </p>
<p>The system needs an online reservation system.</p>
<p>The online system does not allow for the rider to designate a time for pickup which is what M2CK is talking about. </p>
<p>I think that would result in delays because the drivers would have to plan to arrive at a location and there is the chance of early arrival (which results in delays for other riders) and a chance of late arrival (which results in delays for the requesting rider).</p>
<p>The online system in place now is a lot less complicated than calling 348-ride. I’ve had very little problems since I began using it in Spring 2011. I did have a problem where they wouldn’t pick me up close to 6:50 am one morning, but that situation was resolved after I contacted them and spoke to Ralph Clayton, the UA administrator that manages the contract with First Transit. They posted the official cutoff and start times on the web application and began closing the app during non operational times to prevent further incidents similar to mine.</p>
<p>I really appreciate the comments and insight from everyone. Thank You.</p>
<p>It would seem the system does need some more work, and better detailed info. When I asked a Crimson Ride shuttle driver on Saturday about transportation she said “I think we stop at 5 tonight, but I am not sure…”</p>
<p>My point is simply that at a pivotal time like move-in, they should be overstaffed with drivers and buses, if anything. Certainly not a haphazard shuttle here and there that either will not stop or will stop and tell you “I am not your bus, you need to call 348-Ride” (when that is painted on the bus being driven).</p>
<p>Then, you call 348-Ride (again) and are given an automated message that says you cannot request a shuttle for more than 6 people when you have NEVER called the service before.</p>
<p>And I realize off topic to the discussion at hand, but someone has to explain to me how this past weekend (during move-in) that there “wasn’t enough demand” for Fresh Foods to be open. Seriously?</p>
<p>And I realize off topic to the discussion at hand, but someone has to explain to me how this past weekend (during move-in) that there “wasn’t enough demand” for Fresh Foods to be open. Seriously?</p>
<p>I’m guessing that…</p>
<p>1) the school thought that only the Dining Halls that are near the residence hall would be needed.</p>
<p>2) that many students/families would also be eating off-campus at the various nearby venues. </p>
<p>3) Likely the only people that would eat at Fresh Foods would be those who will be living in a north campus residence hall and Lakeside Dining Hall would suffice.</p>
<p>My daughter had this issue last night when she was trying to get a ride to the WOW event at the student rec center. She was very tired from moving in yesterday, so she was nearly in tears trying to get through to get a ride. Even though she is a sophomore this was the first time she had tried to use the 348 system. She did not know about the online system or the app, until after she called me frustrated. By then a friend had texted her wondering where she was and offered to go get her.</p>
<p>My frustration was the university’s reliance on the 348-Ride system to shuttle kids to all the weekend WOW activities! I think it would have been more productive to use the Ferg as a “hub” for the kids to catch a shuttle to the various events. Nothing like overwhelming a freshman with using a system that was obviously overwhelmed!</p>