Hashemite University students push for improved bus services

AMMAN – The Hashemite University’s student union on Wednesday criticised the shortage of buses transporting students from the Sweileh area to the university a day earlier, the union’s president, Qusai Khawaldeh, said. 

Khawaldeh noted the large number of students needing transportation every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, calling on Mutakamilah Transportation Company (AutoBus) to expand the fleet of buses serving university students. 

“Every 30 minutes a bus comes to transport the students and that is not enough to accommodate the high number of passengers,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

AutoBus Director Moayad Abu Farda said the “main problem for us that we do not have the exact number of students we are supposed to transport from Sweileh. I want to emphasise that there is no shortage of buses. On the contrary, the situation this semester is much better than during the previous one,” he told The Jordan Times. 

He noted that a meeting bringing together representatives of the company and university officials will be held on Thursday to determine the number of students who will benefit from the services of AutoBus. 

Earlier this year, students organised several strikes, demonstrations and activities, such as an overnight sit-in at the university’s main gate and a boycott of the company’s buses, to protest against “poor transport services” and to push for improvements.