UAE | Education
Students complain about jam-packed buses that fail to arrive on time
Transportation seems to be a growing problem for students in the UAE, in terms of registration fees and organisation, Gulf News has learnt.
- By Manal Ismail and Maysam Ali, Staff Reporters
- Published: 23:25 September 9, 2008
Dubai: Transportation seems to be a growing problem for students in the UAE, in terms of registration fees and organisation, Gulf News has learnt.
Students at Manipal University in Dubai International Academic City are facing problems with transportation services.
Claiming that the buses were heavily crammed and failed to arrive on time, media studies student Puja Dilip described her encounter as the "worst experience for students at Manipal University."
Puja said that the journey to her house in Sharjah takes three hours, the first of which consists of waiting for the bus to leave the campus.
Students who want to utilise the university's transportation services must register and pay a fee of Dh1,750 per semester. Out of 850 students, 625 are registered.
Krishna Kumar, facilities manager at Manipal University, explained that the overcrowding is due to many unregistered students riding the buses.
"What happens is many unregistered students get on the bus, and as a result the registered students get frustrated," he said. Nevertheless, Kumar said they are working on implementing a strategy to prevent this from reoccurring.
"By next week we will begin issuing identification cards to registered students," he said.
ID cards
"Only students with ID cards will then be permitted to get on the bus."
As for the delay, Kumar explained that most of it is caused by students' lack of punctuality.
This is not the case for students in all universities and emirates.
Around 110 students living in Hatta, Dalma or other areas in Ras Al Khaimah who study in Al Ain often use the transportation provided by the university through Emirates Transport buses.
Maha Al Ka'abi, student of Al Ain Women's College (AWC) who lives in the UAE University dormitories in Al Ain, said that she was pleased with the transportation provided by her college: "They are usually on time and reliable for my trips to and from the university."
According to Linda Fairhart, supervisor of Student Services at AWC, no problems regarding transportation have been reported so far.
Ursula Seifert, director of Student Affairs at George Mason University - Ras Al Khaimah (GMU-RAK), said that transportation is currently being arranged for students living outside the emirate.
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