Bus delays impacting UCSC students commute to class as college inspects buses following deadly crash

SANTA CRUZ, (KION) - Buses at UC Santa Cruz are being pulled for inspection after a bus crash happened in December. Students are concerned about delays in bus travel times.

Ever since the bus crash last month that killed a bus driver and injured 5 people, UCSC has pulled some of the 30-35 foot buses for inspection.

"We wanted to re-inspect all of our busses and invite an outside expert to also inspect the busses, just to make sure that they are in roadworthy condition," said Scott Hernandez-Jason, assistant vice chancellor for communications and marketing at UCSC. "That we can feel good about providing service with them,"

Those buses Hernandez-Jason just mentioned have been running since the 1990's. Since the start of the inspection, five of the buses have been put back in route.

The University says they have added some smaller buses to some of its routes.

However, this is still causing some delays in arrival times at bus stops. The ones impacted are the students who say they have been trying to arrive earlier to get to class on time.

Diego Montano is in his first year at UCSC says he noticed it takes longer for buses to arrive.

Luckily Montano says he has not been late as a result, but it is still an inconvenience.

"Just getting around campus takes a little bit longer. It's already a big campus. So the buses being slow makes it even harder," said Montano.

Hernandez-Jason says he was aware the inspection of the buses would cause delays and notified the campus.

"We've also encouraged instructors to be patient and understanding with students racing from one class to another," said Hernandez-Jason. "So, we sincerely apologize for the impacts, and we know it's difficult for everyone."

When asked about updates on the investigation of the bus crash on Dec. 13, Hernandez-Jason was only able to inform KION that it was still under investigation.

UCSC says they are looking forward to adding electric buses to their fleet shortly.