Sérstök viðhorf til strætisvagna

"Reykjavík er fyrsta borgin sem ég bý í þar sem engar almenningssamgöngur eru á helgarnóttum," segir Charlotte Ó. Ferrier. Henni kom það mjög á óvart, "sér í lagi þar sem Íslendingar segjast vera framarlega í umhverfismálum". Þá þykir henni viðhorf Íslendinga til strætisvagna sérstakt. "Mér finnst frábært að námsmenn fái frítt í strætó og velti fyrir mér hvort slíkt myndi ekki leysa umferðarvandann í Reykjavík. Svarið er svo sannarlega ekki að gera fleiri götur. Það var reynt í Bretlandi og stuttu síðar var umferðin alveg jafn slæm."

I was working over the weekend and finished after the buses stopped. It reminded me that Iceland is the first city i have ever lived in that does not have night buses. For a country that prides itself on being so forward and green, it's actually very backward. It's seems crazy that people have to get taxis home. Allowing people to get buses home after going downtown would hopefully further reduce drink driving.

I think it's fantastic that students have free bus passes, it has encouraged more people to not use their cars as much, and hopefully the increase in the volume of passengers will make the buses more frequent and open up more routes. It would be great if all buses were free, like in Akureyri. Think how much less traffic there would be in the morning! Especially as most cars only have one person inside.

Companies should encourage their employers to be more 'green', by taking the bus or 'carpooling' (when a few collegues organise to come to work together in one car) I was really happy to hear that VGK Hönnun hf has already started such an incentive, such as buying bus passes for the employees and providing cars at the office for emergencies, or doctors appointments etc..

The answer definitely isn't building more roads. They did that in the UK and a short while later the traffic was just as bad.

Formaður stúdentafélags

"Ég fór á stofnfund félags nema í íslensku fyrir erlenda nema," segir Charlotte um atburði undanfarinna daga. "Við viljum meðal annars bæta gæði íslenskukennslunnar og gefa upplýsingar um námsáfanga." Einnig er ætlun þeirra að hjálpa erlendum nýnemum að aðlagast íslensku þjóðfélagi og taka þátt í háskólalífinu. "Okkur finnst mikilvægt að upplýsa fólk um réttindi og framtíðartækifæri. Mörg okkar ætla að búa á Íslandi eftir útskrift og við viljum vita hvers lags starfa við getum vænst," segir Charlotte, sem er nýkjörinn formaður félagsins.


"I went to a founding meeting for the 'Student Association for 'Íslenska fyrir Erlenda Stúdenta'. We want to improve the quality of Icelandic language teaching, exchange and offer information about courses, programme requirements, help newcomers settle into icelandic life whilst presenting a positive image of foreigners and actively taking part in campus life.

We think it's important to inform ourselves of not only our rights, but our future opportunities. Many of us are planning on staying in Iceland after we graduate and want to know what employment we might be offered.

We are also going to do lots of fun stuff, like icelandic movie nights, parties. We want to arrange some vísindaferðir, so if any companies are interested please let us know!

There are six of us on the board, i'm the president, because no one else wanted to be! But i'm really enthusiastic and excited about this association, and i really think we will make a big difference in the lives of current and future students studying icelandic at HÍ."