LAFAYETTE PARISH — For months, University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL) student Christopher Das says riding the bus has been a real challenge.
"It's ridiculous, it's frustrating..." he says, summing up his experience.
Das, along with several other students, has voiced frustration over ongoing issues with bus tracking, route delays, and the ability to purchase bus passes.
Many residents, including students, rely on public transit as their primary mode of transportation. But with the system's lack of real-time bus tracking, planning commutes has become increasingly difficult.
"The main problem is waiting for hours to catch the bus. The other day I was waiting... and there was no way to track the bus," Das explains.
In addition to delays, riders have also faced problems purchasing yearly bus passes due to issues with LTS's point-of-sale system.
"The Lafayette Transit System has been down. I call every week and they say they're trying to fix it, but I guess they've had no success," says Julie Galtier, another UL student.
I reached out to Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) about the ongoing complaints. A spokesperson confirmed that LTS doesn't have a functioning bus tracking system in place right now.
Jamie Boudreaux, the communications director, explained that the tracking system has been offline due to the extensive work with the addition of new routes and previous staffing shortages. However, with new drivers now in place, they're working on getting the system back up and running.
What's going on with bus passes?
Traffic, Roads, and Bridges Director Warren Abidie explained that they are currently unable to issue new bus passes.
"With a recent transition to a new accounting system, we're experiencing issues with the point-of-sale (POS) system for selling yearly passes. We are still honoring last year's passes and allowing people to pay when boarding the bus. We expect this issue to be resolved within the next two weeks," Abidie said in a statement.
What about scheduling delays?
Abidie added that while LTS does its best to stick to the published schedule, there are many unpredictable challenges that can cause delays.
"We do our best to adhere to the published schedule and provide a reliable transit system, but there are many challenges that are hard to predict and can cause the bus to run behind," he said.
So, what's next?
Currently, there are at least 25 buses in the LTS network across Lafayette Parish. Each bus is equipped with a GPS system to track its routes. LTS is in the process of updating old routers and adding new ones to buses that don’t have them yet.
Boudreaux says LTS's new tracking system should be fully operational by summer.
