Birjand University: From Tragic Accident to Student Shuttle Challenges

Birjand – A shortage of Birjand University buses and a tragic incident involving a faculty member have once again highlighted the need to provide adequate shuttle services and improve traffic safety at university campuses.

Ambassador Arjan of the Provinces Group: Our officials always mention in their talks and speeches that Birjand and South Khorasan is the academic center of the east of the country and they are proud of this.

But the question here is whether we consider the components of this honor of being a university city in different dimensions. How much is considered in the field of student services according to the needs of the bus audience, or whether traffic safety issues are considered in the university environment.

Questions that the unfortunate accident for one of the faculty members of the university raises in a more serious way.

A bitter accident for a faculty member of Birjand University

Birjand University said in an announcement about the tragic incident that happened to one of the faculty members due to a traffic accident: "This week, after a car collided with one of the faculty members of Birjand University in the university campus, he was seriously injured and was sent to Mashhad for further treatment. This incident is a serious warning for all of us. The university campus is a safe place for pedestrians; not the place of speed and carelessness"

This issue made the issue of driving safety in the environment of Birjand University and its campuses to be seriously thought of once again, and finally, in another announcement of Birjand University, it is stated, "In order to increase the safety of students and colleagues, the entrance route of Shaukat Abad campus will be changed to the south side, at the beginning of Shahid Chiragchi Blvd., and the entrance way at the beginning of Danesh Blvd. will be blocked from Technology Square.

Also, from this date, the entry of students' personal cars and Snap cars into the Shaukatabad campus will be prohibited.

Respected colleagues and dear students can use the parking lots of the faculty of literature, the central parking lot, and the faculty of engineering, which are equipped with surveillance cameras and lighting.

"Also, when requesting SNAP, please select the nearest authorized parking lot to pick up or drop off."

It is natural that one of the most important factors that makes students less inclined to use a private vehicle or take Snap is the timely movement of university services, while in recent days we have seen that university services have decreased drastically.

Lack of commuting service and wandering of students

Hakimeh Rezaei, one of the students of Faculty of Literature and Humanities, said in a conversation with Mehr reporter: The number of services is very few and limited, especially at the end of the day and after the last classes.

He said: This issue causes us to face a crowd of people and students are even sitting on the steps of the bus, which is very dangerous in terms of safety, and it is enough to brake suddenly or open the door of the bus for any reason to witness an accident.

The student of Birjand University pointed out that in many cases the drivers of the university services do not observe the principles of safe driving and stated: It happened to me that I was standing in the university service because of the large crowd, and I fell from the back of the bus with a sudden hard brake, which was really stressful.

He added: On the other hand, last week, a tragic incident happened to one of the professors of our faculty, and the car of one of the students hit him and caused damage and injury to this professor.

Rezaei said: All these cases show that we should consider the principles of driving safety in the university environment more than before.

We follow the demands of students

Mohammadreza Turki, the secretary of Birjand University Student Welfare Union Council, in an interview with Mehr reporter, stated: The issue of overcrowding in university services and overcrowding has occurred because the municipality does not provide adequate services to the university under the pretext that we do not have buses.

He stated: On the other hand, the municipality says that the university is located outside the city limits, and for this reason, it charges a fee from the university to establish the service in that area, which was 120 million for each bus per month last year, which has increased this year.

The secretary of Birjand University welfare union council stated: Crowding of university services is not a good thing from the point of view of safety, and it also causes students to wander, especially after the last classes in the evening.

He said about the tragic accident that happened to one of the faculty members of the university: these accidents happen due to distraction, non-compliance with the law, etc., but it should also be noted that security forces deal with cars that do illegal things, etc.

Turki clarified: We must go in the direction that unnecessary car traffic does not take place in the internal environment of the university, which, of course, will not happen in one or two days, and it takes time, and we are currently listening to the students' demands.

There are few buses allocated by the municipality to the university

Seyed Hossein Hosseini, the person in charge of transport affairs of Birjand University, said in a conversation with Mehr reporter: Our agreement with the municipality of Birjand University was to allocate 5 buses for Birjand University, but in recent days, only two services have been provided from or to Abu Dhar from the university.

He stated: "Our follow-ups are continuing, but the municipality has reduced the number of buses assigned to the university's student service by claiming that our priority is within the city and we have little service for the inner city."

The person in charge of the transport affairs of Birjand University stated: The thing to ponder is that, in addition to the fact that students use bus cards and pay fees, and in addition, the municipality receives 400 million tomans from the university for each bus per month.

He continued: This issue is not common in other provinces of the country, and even for universities outside the city, the bus only considers the citizenship card (bus card) and does not demand anything from the university.

Hosseini stated: In Birjand, the cost of a bus within the city is three to four thousand tomans, but outside the city, i.e. Amirabad and Hajiabad, it is eight thousand tomans, and the question is, why does the municipality not carry out the same procedure for the service of Birjand University, and demands millions of dollars for each bus from the university.

Mohsen Kadkhoda, the head of Birjand municipality's cargo and passenger transport management organization, also stated in a conversation with Mehr reporter: Currently, we have set up two services for the Faculty of Agriculture, two services from Abu Dhar to Shaukat Faculty and one service for Tawheed dormitory.

In response to the question that the services on the way from Abu Dhar Terminal to Shaukat Abad University are much less than the capacity of students, he mentioned: We have sent this issue to the Governor's Office in a letter and we hope that it will be investigated next week.

In any case, it is not enough to be proud that Birjand is a university city, but the student's conditions, facilities, and peace of mind must also be taken into consideration, and at least his shortest request, which is to provide enough means of transportation to the university and traffic safety, should be given serious attention.