Students riding the MTA LocalLink 70 and Gold Route buses to AACC this semester have complained about poor timing and cramped conditions.

“Sometimes they’re late, but not all the time,” Nikkie Stevens, a fourth-year transfer studies student, said. “It’s just annoying.”

Stevens started taking the bus home from school this semester because she doesn’t have a car and no one is available to drive her.

Some students told Campus Current they had to drop classes, pay for rideshares like Lyft or Uber, or drop out of AACC because they couldn’t get to school.

Mary Noe, a first-year health information technology student, said she was left behind one day at a connecting bus stop when the bus left a few minutes early. Noe was getting off of a connecting bus when the one she was transferring to made a turn and left.

Otha Hamlett, a third-year American studies student, said he has to stand on the bus in the mornings because “the buses are overcrowded. They’re always late, always. They’re never on time.”

Students who have needed rides during an emergency told Campus Current the buses were not always available to them.

James Haggerty, a student in 2016 and 2017, said he had to pay for Uber to get to class every day. “Some people live in places where you can go to a bus stop, but sometimes, when you live in the neighborhoods, it’s not that simple,” Haggerty said.

When Haggerty got sick in 2017 and could no longer drive himself to school, he dropped all of his classes.

“I take Uber almost every day, because the buses don’t come to my neighborhood and it’s pretty expensive,” third-year education student Alexandra Radovic said. Student bus passes are available at the campus bookstore for $52. The passes are for a single month and available to any student taking at least six credits.

Students may pay for the bus passes at the college with financial aid if it is need-based financial aid, such as the federal Pell Grant.

Students can find printed bus schedules in pamphlet stands around campus. Additionally, the Maryland Transit Administration website also has the schedule online.

The Maryland Transit Administration has also put out an app that has the schedule. It updates arrival times as the buses are operating. For more information, students can go to the app store and download “Transit” on Apple or Android.

AACC students who ride buses to campus take bus route LocalLink 70, often by way of Link 69, or they take the Annapolis Transit Gold route.

According to Director of Facilities Planning and Construction Jim Taylor, bus transportation isn’t extensive because AACC is a suburban area and not as many people depend on buses as they do in cities.