Yale has organized transportation to Cambridge for students — less than two weeks before The Game.
Associated Student Agencies (ASA) put up a link on its website Tuesday for students to buy chartered bus tickets to and from Harvard for $20 each way. Students interviewed said they were frustrated that the link appeared on a date so close to The Game, making it difficult for those who live far away determine travel plans. At The Game two years ago, ASA announced the bus ticket sales in an e-mail Nov. 1, more than a week earlier than this year’s posting.
ASA has been planning for The Game since late summer and negotiating with bus companies since the beginning of the school year, and did not publicize the information earlier because it wanted to work out collaboration with administrators first, senior manager of ASA Transit Christopher Luu ’12 said.
Yale College Council President Jeff Gordon ’12 said the YCC, the President’s Office, the Council of Masters and the Yale College Dean’s Office will be sponsoring the buses, which seat 54 students each and are equipped with Wi-Fi internet access. Luu said ASA will hire as many buses as needed based on ticket sales. Two years ago, they needed 22 buses. After reviewing a number of bus companies, they settled on Peter Pan Bus Lines, the same company used two years ago, he added.
Although there will be enough buses for everyone who needs transportation, eight of 11 students interviewed said the announcement came too late, and interfered with their ability to plan for The Game and the beginning of break.
Ava Ghezelayagh ’14 said she was particularly frustrated because she needed to know the bus schedule so that she could book her flights home to California.
“To be safe, I chose a Sunday flight, which means I have one less day to spend with my family,” Ghezelayagh said.
Tammer Abiyu ’14 said he needed to give his father more information about how he was getting to The Game but could not because no information had been released.
Despite complaints, all students interviewed said they will take ASA buses to Harvard because it is cheaper than any other form of public transportation. At $20, the tickets are slightly more expensive than they were two years ago, when a one-way ticket cost $15. Still, an Amtrak train ticket from New Haven to Boston costs between $50 and $100.
“It certainly beats any other kind of transportation students can get,” Luu said.
Luu added that most students take Yale transportation to Harvard, but go home straight from Cambridge. Ten students interviewed said they planned to take the Peter Pan buses to The Game but not back from it.
There was some confusion about where to board the New Haven-bound buses after The Game two years ago, but this year ASA Transit has made the boarding location — a gas station at the corner of Harvard Street and Western — explicit on its website, Luu said.
Several campus organizations set up their own transportation before ASA announced its buses.
A number of a cappella groups who have concerts at Harvard chartered their own buses up to The Game, and the women’s soccer team and men’s lacrosse team hired a party bus together.
Hana Zegeye ’13 said the Glee Club will take a bus up as a group for their concert Friday night. The club also organized a bus back to Yale after the concert Friday, but did not get one for Saturday due to a lack of interest.
ASA bus tickets are only available online. The buses will depart Yale from Payne Whitney Gym at 5 p.m. Nov. 19 and leave from Harvard at 5 p.m. Nov. 20.