For countless high school seniors, the prospect of living on the beach, or even being on a campus near the beach, has been one of the main allures of Fairfield University. But as most freshmen here in Stag Country has realized, getting to that small paradise of sand and water (and some debauchery, of course) is not as easy as it seems.
Freshmen and sophomores, with few exceptions, are not allowed to have cars on campus.
Even so, upperclassmen who do have the privilege of having their own transportation are not inclined to drive their own cars to a party. No one wants to spend a boring night as designated driver, and any wise Stag knows that drinking and driving is just not cool.
Getting to the beach on any weekend night can be a real #fairfieldprobs, full of trying to figure out who’s calling a cab in the midst of pre-game madness and potential treks to the one ATM Fairfield University has to offer, because who has cash on them anyway?
Years ago, Fairfield offered a shuttle bus to transport students from campus to the beach. For whatever reason, it was suspended, well before any current Fairfield students began their freshmen year here. The absence of said shuttle is equal parts frustrating and inconvenient.
Few things are more of a buzz kill than being stranded at a party when it’s cold out and you’re a lot drunker than you intended on getting and the only thing you can think of is your bed and a large order of cheesy bread.
Reinstating a shuttle to and from the beach, particularly on weekends, would help alleviate that problem. More than that, it would also lessen the number of complaints students here have with our party scene, and as any average weekend could show you, those complaints are very common.
Beyond the liquor-embellished weekend escapades, having a shuttle to the beach would also be totally clutch for those precious days during the academic year where the rays are perfect for tanning, and let’s be real here, laying out on the beach is infinitely better than dragging your towel out into the quad anyway.
Unfortunately, the prospect of adding another shuttle route to the already very limited Stag Bus schedule seems very slim. Last year, much to the dismay of anyone without a car here (i.e. half the student body), even the regular shuttle bus into town was cut back from every 30 minutes to every 45. Not only is this just annoying for figuring out when the buses run, but it also has made what under normal circumstances would be a 15 minute trip to CVS into an almost hour long endeavor.
On top of that, the Stag Bus is still notoriously late, just adding to the “getting around without a car here really freaking sucks” trend Fairfield seems to be keeping up with.
Moral of the story: a shuttle to the beach would be awesome and useful, but based on Fairfield’s track record of student transportation (as well as its ridiculous stinginess), it seems highly unlikely that getting to the beach and back from campus will ever be better than struggling to find a cab, or both stupidly and dangerously trying to decide who out of you and your friends is “sober enough” to get behind the wheel. Maybe one day Fairfield University will start listening to more of the students’ needs, but until then, we’ll be left to fend for ourselves.
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