Twelve WSSU students sit in vehicles parked at Bowman Gray Stadium on Martin Luther King Drive, waiting for the new 28-passenger RamExpress to arrive.
After several minutes, a shuttle arrives, but it’s not the bright red and white RamExpress that made its debut on campus Aug. 15. Instead, a replacement shuttle arrives. This is because less than one month after the shuttle was introduced to the campus, the RamExpress is already out of service, at least temporarily.
Aaron Singleton, director of news and media relations, said that the WSSU custom RamExpress shuttle vehicle was temporarily out of commission while it underwent repairs to its air conditioning system, according to the Winston-Salem Transportation Authority.
For the convenience of WSSU students, faculty and staff, WSTA provided another vehicle until the repairs were completed on the RamExpress.”
The RamExpress shuttle service is free and operates from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. It makes eight stops around the campus in 30 minutes or less.
Sisters Denise and Devon Barnes are frequent passengers of the shuttle.
“I leave an hour earlier than usual when I ride the RamExpress because I never know when it’s going to be there,” Devon Barnes said. But she added: “I will continue to ride it as long as it’s offered.”
Denise Barnes, a senior nursing major, said the convenience of the shuttle is ideal for nursing and computer science majors.
“The string you pull to signal a stop makes the shuttle seem authentic,” Denise Barnes said. “I never rode any public transportation before, so this is new to me, but I really like riding the RamExpress. It is fun.”