<p>Hi</p>
<p>I'm going to be attending UR (river campus) this september for grad school. I was planning on finding an apartment in the East End, near Eastman School, so that I could use the UR bus from Eastman to river campus every day. </p>
<p>A lot will be riding on this plan working smoothly. Can I count on the bus service to be on time, or at least, not leaving early? Can I find a seat on it? Is it reasonably pleasant?</p>
<p>Thanks for any help you can offer.</p>
<p>D uses the buses extensively, and hasn’t complained. She goes to the Eastman school weekly for a music lesson without any problem. She has also seen professors using the bus system to get to work as well.</p>
<p>I believe UR students can also use the city buses at no cost as well.</p>
<p>MADad,</p>
<p>Thank you very much. This is helpful, and good news.</p>
<p>The city buses are not free for students, you have to pay for them. The only ones that are free are the UR branded ones.
As for the student UR buses, they are sometimes late. However, you can solve this problem by not trying to squeeze your schedule and by taking a 10:50 arrival bus if you have a class at 11.</p>
<p>Buses are, for the most part, reliable. They will be sometimes late, but, if they arrive early, they’ll usually not leave until the designated time. In general, get to the stop on time = get on the bus on time 80% of the time; 15% ~ 5-10 mins late; 5% ~ >10 min late. So, like was said before, don’t try to sqeeze in on the last bus before class - try to catch one at least 30 mins before class. </p>
<p>BTW, you could find a lot cheaper and more conveniently located housing closer to UR, but that’s a matter of preference, I suppose.</p>
<p>hopkinslax–
thanks for the correction. The city buses may have been free before the university put its own buses in place a few years ago.</p>
<p>Just chiming in. . .S lived at Eastman and had 2 classes at UR campus. He thought the shuttle system was cumbersome. The shuttle pick up was every hour, but if you missed it, you were stuck for an hour. He took his car back second semester hoping to make things a little easier, but it didn’t. He had to pay for parking at East End garage ($40/month), then pay for a permit at UR. (He knew all that before, but we were willing to let him try it, just to see if it would help.) But then he found the parking lot for commuter students was on the very edge of campus and required another shuttle to class!!! So he gave up the permit and kept his car at Eastman and rode the shuttle on Tuesdays and Thursdays to UR. The only time he had a real problem was when he had to come back to Eastman for a recital between his 2 UR classes.
Bottom line… . he would much rather be at a school where the campuses are one and not separated by a 20-25 minute ride.</p>
<p>obviously buses are annoying compared to the convenience of getting places quickly by car… but since parking sucks at UR, the buses work out pretty well. you have to schedule your day to get on the bus, so what?</p>