A white coach bus exclusively for UF students and their families will leave campus on Friday for the first time, its sights set on South Florida.
After having difficulty finding a bus route to take her home to Broward County during school holidays, Nathalie Prieto, 22, founded University Express Bus in 2016, after graduating from UF with a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications last Spring.
One-way and round-trip tickets, which range from $45 to $65, are available online, and Prieto said she hopes to keep the service running every weekend. When passengers buy tickets online, they’re asked how they’re related to the UF community.
As of now, the bus will leave from the Gale Lemerand Drive Commuter Lot and stop at a rest stop, Pompano Beach in Broward County, the Mall at 163rd Street in Miami and Dadeland Mall in Miami.
Rochelle Perera, 21, used Megabus to travel home during her first two years at UF. The UF psychology senior said the bus dropped her off near her house and was cheap, but she still had issues with the service.
“I’ve had to wait 45 minutes, and I didn’t know if the bus was going to come or not,” Perera said.
Prieto said she wanted to minimize students’ annoyances when they frequently travel home on buses.
“I knew what it was like to be a student, and I knew what it was like to be riding the bus for six hours when you’re trying to get home,” Prieto said.
