The reasoning behind this change is to “… conserve fuel, reduce emissions, and reduce operation costs with minimal changes in service levels” according to an email sent to undergraduate students. That is a very environmental reason for what are essentially cuts to service along some of the lesser used parts of these routes.
Also last week, Stanford Housing announced that all undergraduate packages shipped through non-USPS carriers will be taken to a new package distribution center behind Roble Hall. This replaces the current system in which packages are delivered to residences or Housing Front Desks. In an email sent this summer, Housing wrote that “Some assistance will be made available at the beginning of the school year to help people get packages to their residences, and the package centers are accessible via the Marguerite shuttle.”
Interestingly, the route that serves the package center – B Line – is being cut into two parts, serving East or West side of campus, but not both. Thus, undergraduate students who live on East Campus (the majority of them) will now have to take a grand total of four buses in order to pick up a large package – less with some walking. These buses are now being serviced less frequently as well.
Thus, we have a concurrence of changes in which packages are made harder to pick-up, and the means of reaching them has also become more difficult. Such bureaucracy may not be surprising at Stanford, but deserves being calling out when it does happen.
These changes are not official, and there is still time to provide feedback on the Marguerite website. If you are one of the thousands of students on East Campus who this may affect, consider submitting your feedback.