Unitrans

Sometimes the bus schedule is hard to figure out, I use the ucd app if i need to find out when the bus will arrive and its accurate 90% of the time. Free transport for UCD students which is awesome.

I got good news and bad need to say about this thing. The good news was I am proud that UCD has a bus service. It is good if you are a student at the university。For UCD students they can get rides for free. I love how they use double deck buses, I wish the VTA, DART and Houston Metro had them. Met up with some bus drivers who really enjoy their job and they had great knowledge of each street. Most of the buses connect easily with the downtown area. If you are looking for great food this is the way to go. I arrived near where I wanted to eat in less than 20 minutes.
Bad news: I wish SJSU had their own public bus service or Über related ride share. This would have been a way to put my public transport experience to work. I do know UH in Houston has specific routes for students. If you are a visitor from another university please take time and ask drivers for help. If you take the train please plan ahead or find a way to make it to the station before your train arrives. This applies to Capitol Corridor Southbound and Coast Starlight all directions.

Service run by students for students (principally) is good. Unfortunately buses on the line A to the Silo often don’t go by the schedule. Getting to Amtrak station in the same moment when train is leaving is quite frustrating… better synchronization of connections and timeliness would be a great improvement.

Drivers are really friendly. Never had a late bus before, though buses generally arrive at stops a bit earlier so it’s a good idea to wait for the bus a bit ahead of time than missing the bus entirely. Riding the bus at night is a nightmare since all the students are trying to go home.

A student ride-​for-​free transportation system, with nice and friendly drivers. Nothing can beat that!
Sometimes, you will need to wave at them just to make sure they know there is someone waiting at the bus stop.

So happy Davis can offer a public transportation for so cheap. I’m rating this one star because the bus drivers never stop. I have waited at my bus stop several times this month and the bus driver just passed by me without looking. Cheap transportation but too many drivers who aren’t doing there job right. All I ask is for better training because they simply aren’t getting it.

Unitrans is the student-​ran bus system here at UC Davis. The buses mostly cater to students, but there are a few lines that go to different places in Davis. The two main stops on campus are the Silo and the Memorial Union.
The buses are normally on time, but you shouldn’t always count on it. I normally take the bus 25 – 35 minutes before class, just in case it’s late or if there’s traffic. The drivers all are well-​trained and are great drivers. For students at UCD, riding the bus is free if you have your ID. For everyone else, its only $ 1. That’s way cheaper than back in the bay where it’s $ 1.75 nowadays.
Unitrans also have double-​decker buses. Those busses normally go to West or North Davis I believe. I really got to try riding one sometime!

Love the Unitrans especially when it’s raining and I decide not to bus to campus. The M/​W line stop near where I live is really convenient because it takes about less than 5 minutes to walk to this stop. Though sometimes the bus can come early (they usually wait for the exact departure time) and late, there is a number you can call at each stop so you know where the bus is exactly.
Unitrans #: 530−204−5529 (and hit 038 for the stop for the M (to take you to the MU) and W (to take you to the silo) line near South Davis)
The W line stop usually gets really crowded on weekdays around the early morning (9/​10am) and around the late afternoon (4/​5pm), so make sure to get on the bus early! The W line also has the W-​express since Unitrans knows that this line gets crowded all the time. W-​express skips all the stops on campus and takes you straight to the stops off campus.
Goal before the year ends is to finally ride the Unitrans double deckers!

The re-​routed L line has a stop less than a block from my house. How convenient is that?
I needed to go to campus for a meeting and didn’t want to spend $ 7 for parking. Unitrans arrived on time, the driver was excellent (I used to commute to Sacramento by Yolo bus and some of their drivers were down-​right grip your seat and hope you don’t end up in a crash frightening) and I arrived at my meeting on time and with no stress from having to hunt for a parking spot.
The bus stops are well marked and the Silo terminal was not far from my meeting.
If I have to be on campus again during the week, I’ll gladly take Unitrans again. Only a buck each way, a real bargain.

The days of relaxed, hippie, easygoing bus rides are over… now its mainly composed of STUDENT bus drivers that take their job way too seriously supposedly because they are in quasi-​control of a moving vehicle… what a feather in your cap, student bus driver.
But I seriously want to know why they are so adamant about this stupid rule. (any unitrans people out there want to explain the consequences?) Is it because of the cameras on the bus, or, from what I saw one day, douchy supervisors that look over your shoulder and lay down the law. Whatever it is, not having that ONE dollar even if you attend the friggin school gets you pretty much left in the gutter. WTF, I couldn’t possibly turn away somebody just because they forgot or misplaced their ID while at the same time had no cash on them.
Not saying I am totally out of the blame pool, I am a forgetful person at times, so misplacement of cash, IDs and a lot of things happens pretty often. Earlier in my days at UCD, bus drivers had been really understanding and pretty much all you had to do was recite your ID number, or in some instances they would just let you in.
However, as the years progressed I noticed that the Unitrans drivers acted like they had something jabbed up their a** (Kathei influence maybe?) and were increasingly rude and just plain callous about students genuinely forgetting their IDs and not having the cash to pay the fare.
To explain how ridiculous these students are, one time I only had 75 cents and the bus driver literally yelled to a full bus if anyone had a quarter to spare for me. I just got on the bus and I was humiliated and just plain old enraged. This was junior year for me and now in my senior year they are checking IDs on campus!!!
I just don’t understand the logic behind this but mainly I was pissed off because I had to walk home yet again. and it was cold, you bastards.

okay, so i’m writing this review because the J line coming from north davis screwed me over. it was 3:46pm when i was looking into my backpack and realized that i didn’t have my wallet. FML
the bus is scheduled to come at 3:47pm and i did not have enough time to run to my apartment and grab my wallet. so i thought to myself «it’s fine, the drivers are usually understanding and in general, are pretty nice»
how much was i WRONG. when the J pulled up, i told the bus driver my situation, saying i didn’t have my wallet, which meant i didn’t have my ID or any money. she looked at me and said «i’m sorry, unless you show me your ID or give me a dollar, i can’t let you on»
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME.
here i am, wearing my UCD sweatshirt, backpack, laptop in hand, ready to make it to my beer and brewing class when this student driver denies me entry onto the bus. I understand that it was my bad for forgetting my wallet in the first place, but as these drivers are students as well, i would think they would be more sympathetic to my dilemma. i also don’t know if it was this particular driver, because there have been times where i find myself losing my ID but still being able to get on the bus (at most they would ask me to recite my student ID number.)
FUO, unitrans.

Yay for riding the bus! They are red and convenient and helps reduce my carbon emission footprint! Oh yah! However one time I saw the bus driver hit a college student on a bike and sometimes the bus is SUPER packed and there is barely enough space to move one inch.

Ahh unitrans :) Having lived in the city my whole life before moving to davis, I did not have a good impression of bus systems in general. But Unitrans is like a god send bus system. They’re ALWAYS on time (except for one time when they were late during finals week: O) and their bus drivers are super friendly! Plus you get to ride free if you’re a student!
The only bad thing about unitrans is their night schedule. After a certain hour (7pm i believe), their buses only run once a hour which is annoying if you have night discussion and have to wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. So I usually have someone come and pick me up at night. But other than that, i love how you can check on unitrans’ website the exact arrival time of the bus.

The wheels on the bus so round and round all through the town of Davis! $ 1 if your non UCD student
My experience:
Coming from the Bay (not that I used the bus often, but when I did) there was a bus always mirroring each other. For instance If a bus was picking you up on one side of the street to go eastbound, there was another bus across the street picking up people to go westbound, and they would be the same bus number. So coming to Davis, I thought the same thing. I took the bus to the MU, and on my way back home I thought I could use the same bus, but ended up in west Davis and having to walk my butt home. So I learned it wont drop me off at the same place I got on. Good thing it was a practice run. To be honest I was also scared to use the bus at first because I was afraid, if you came from the bay, you will understand.
Pro:
Students are free
Drivers are students (I don’t know whether this is good or bad, but I guess it gives students the bragging rights of having another type of license)
Many bus lines– stops at both silo and Mu
Saves you money from buying a permit
Covers you from the rain if you usually bike to school
Cons:
Winter= big NO NO! gross smelly heated bus, hella grimmy
Sometimes they are late, but very rare, usually due to construction so they have to detour
If you use a packed line such as J, G, M, W, your expecting not to sit down on the bus

Other cities need a public transportation system like this. Unitrans goes practically all around town, so no matter where you live (unless you’re out in the middle of nowhere), you can catch a ride to another part of Davis. Yes, it’s mostly used by students, but it’s open to everyone. Typically, the buses are on time, clean and the drivers are safe. It’s also a great field trip idea for kids, as it’s cheap — esp if you go on a double decker. I used to take the kids I babysat on Unitrans all the time during the summer before I had my driver’s license.

The UNITRANS is a bus service that runs throughout Davis that began in 1968. Mostly used by UCD students, it is also open to public use for $ 1 per ride (free for city employees and senior citizens). Bus fares for undergraduates are included in the tuition, so take advantage of this service!
The drivers are all students who «undergo extensive training and testing prior to going into service.» If you ride the bus often enough, you will notice that they have a cute little tradition of waving to each other when their paths intervene. Most of the drivers are pretty friendly and will wait for you if they see you running to the bus. Then there are the ones who keep going while you’re left catching your breath and choking from the bus fumes left behind.
When space permits, the unspoken rule is for people to sit at every other seat. Some people hate sitting next to another person so much that they’d rather stand, which may work in your favor if you have your own seat. The buses get really packed depending on the line and the time of day — usually in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings when people are heading to campus, to home for lunch, or for bed, respectively. During these times, you will be asked to take off your backpacks and «get to know your neighbor.» It may be a little uncomfortable because you will be so close to the people around you that you will smell what they had for lunch, how long it’s been since they last showered, and how packed a guy is down there (kidding!).
The student patrons are usually enjoyable because most are plugged into their iPods or are cramming for a midterm. However, sometimes you will get the talkity-​talkers who chat very loud on the phone or with their friends. You might also be unlucky enough to catch a few rude and immature high school students.
You will also encounter the unprepared bus rider who does not have his or her student ID card to present to the driver, which holds back the whole bus as he/​she fumbles in their backpack/​purse/​pockets while still talking away on the phone. Therefore, if you know you are riding the bus, please have your ID card or money ready. And please do not put your WET umbrella on a seat because people’s bums will get wet and that is not a very nice feeling.
Things to note:
–The buses are almost always late on rainy days; plan your schedule accordingly!
— There is no service on Sundays and certain holidays