The Commuter Struggle at drexel

It is indeed frequently enough said that college provides the best years for personal growth, defined by friendships, success in your professional and personal goals, and discovering yourself through new experiences. But for commuters – students who lose a chunk of their day to traveling – life at college can feel like an uphill battle. Your routine is disrupted by either racing to make the train, only for it to be delayed or canceled, or scrambling to beat the Schuylkill traffic. Those long commuting times could be better spent on club meetings, group study sessions, or unwinding with friends. Never mind the “FOMO” that arises and the constant questioning of whether you really belong at Drexel University.

My personal experience as a commuter has been met with these challenges. Two weeks ago, repeated ten-minute delays by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority caused me to miss a class I was looking forward to attending. After frequently experiencing the same delays the previous day, I became frustrated – SEPTA trains were not the only ones with built-up steam. By the second ten-minute delay, I held out hope that I woudl make it to class on time. However, I arrived fifteen minutes before it ended, totaling my commute to two hours and 30 minutes. Luckily, my professor was understanding, but some students are not so lucky. Missing a lab, a mandatory class, or an exam is harder to come back from and is rarely warmly received.

Commuting, however, has benefits worth addressing. Tuition does not include on-campus housing, and there are many opportunities to grow outside of Drexel. Living at home gives you comfort and time-management skills, and above all, invaluable time with family.

Even though there are real benefits to commuting, the idealistic coming-of-age narrative of college seems to lie on more dubious grounds when you include commuter students in the equation. Therefore, I urge us to bring awareness of the delays and canceled trains disrupting commuters’ schedules, thus creating a loss of valuable and memorable experiences at Drexel.

So what can we do about this? First, we can understand what is going on with SEPTA, and what we can do about it.

The Pennsylvania Senate resolution for funding SEPTA to continue operation is simply moving money around. Specifically, the Governor approved SEPTA to pull money required from the capital Public Transportation Trust Fund, which is used for capital expenditure projects like new train cars, construction, lease payments, and other major projects. this is an ineffective attempt at fixing today’s crisis by recklessly opening Pandora’s box to deal with tomorrow.