The Augustana College Express Service (ACES) is experiencing issues with one of its vans, causing unreliable and potentially unsafe transportation services. ACES relies on two vans to transport students around campus and operates daily from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Senior Gracie Gwozdz is a student director for ACES and said that over the past year, the staff has been putting in frequent work orders for one van. She said the vehicle has felt unsafe at times, with the van rattling along with an array of dashboard lights flashing.
“I’ll be pedal to the floor, going ten miles an hour. You hit the acceleration and the whole front of the van lifts up, making all of these crazy noises,” Gwozdz said.
Gwozdz said that these issues have been occurring more often, calling it “a safety issue for drivers.” With winter steadily approaching, she said many student drivers are concerned about the vehicle’s integrity in the case of snow or ice.
Despite work orders, ACES student director, senior Fernando Munguia, said the van is “never fully fixed.”
“The van is still making noises, acting weird, and that just puts the staff in a lot of danger and exposes them to accidents,” Munguia said.
With the van out of commission, Gwozdz said it creates a chain of issues for both ACES and Public Safety.
“It’s a burden on Public Safety because they have to fix the van all of the time,” Gwozdz said. “When there’s only one van running, it also affects the students who use the service because it’s the same amount of riders but only one van. Then the students who picked up shifts for that van don’t get to work and don’t get paid.”
Chief of Augustana Police and Public Safety Tom Phillis said the ACES vans operate on a regular maintenance schedule and are “priority vehicles” for any necessary repairs.
“[We] try and get them serviced and fixed as quickly as possible,” Phillis said.
Munguia said roughly 500 students utilize ACES per week, leaving many students affected by the lack of transportation. To remedy the situation, he said ACES student directors reached out to President Andrea Talentino via email.
“Sadly, the response was not what we wanted, and she just directed us to someone else,” Munguia said. “And, that person who was also copied to the email did not respond.”
ACES student directors have also reached out to the Student Government Association (SGA) regarding the van, he said. However, Munguia said SGA informed ACES student directors they were unable to assist with the purchase of a new van since it falls under Public Safety.
“You can’t just ask for a van and get a new van. It’s got to be put into what other capital improvements need to be made as well,” Phillis said. “Every year, I am asked for a capital improvement list of things that I would think need to be put on the list. I think I will certainly put a new vehicle for ACES on that list.”
Junior Niccolo Benvenuto, another student director at ACES, said the ACES staff plans to meet with SGA soon to further evaluate how to move forward. He said around 90% of students who utilize ACES services are international students.
“These are vulnerable students, they don’t have vehicles,” Benvenuto said. “If this service goes down, it’s gonna be bad for international students, because most don’t feel safe walking around at night, especially women.”
