Shuttle Service Expanded To Mornings, Holidays

The College has expanded shuttle service in the morning, during one-day holidays, and over Wintersession following student criticism revealed by the results of an Undergraduate Council survey.

Shuttles will now run on a weekend schedule on Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Presidents Day. Over winter break, regular shuttle service hours will resume on Jan. 13 when the College reopens for Wintersession.

In an effort to address overcrowding, University Operations Services has also expanded the number of shuttles running to and from the Quad in the morning.

The changes took effect at the start of this semester.

The UC, working in collaboration with UOS and the Office of Student Life, issued a survey this spring soliciting student feedback on shuttle services.

According to UC Student Life Committee Chair Christopher A. Devine ’13, over 1,000 students responded to the survey, expressing dissatisfaction with two major areas: a lack of shuttle service on holidays and overcrowded shuttles on weekday mornings.

Administrators used the results of the survey to guide their decision to expand shuttle service this year.

“The UC shuttle survey results provided valuable student input that informed how we made some adjustments to the landscape of shuttle services, allowing us to address several concerns raised by students,” said Assistant Dean of Student Life David R. Friedrich.

The changes come as a pleasant development for Quadlings, who have often complained about deficiencies in shuttle service on holidays and weekday mornings.

“As a Quad student I’ve called the shuttle services and emailed them plenty of times throughout the past year, because I’ve thought the fact that we didn’t have shuttle service on holidays was very unsafe for students,” said Pforzheimer House Committee Co-Chair Maya C. Ayoub ’12. “It being a holiday doesn’t mean that we’re doing any less than we are on normal days.”

Adams House Committee Co-Chair Anne G. Douglas ’12 said that despite the shuttle’s minimal role in lives of River students, the changes represented a positive change for the student body as a whole.

“The more shuttle service, the better,” Douglas said.

As recently as 2009, Harvard offered shuttle service on holidays. At the start of the 2009-2010 academic year, the College eliminated service on one-day holidays as part of a series of budget cuts.

According to Friedrich, this year’s changes in shuttle offerings represent a budget-neutral adjustment for UOS. The additional shuttle in the morning comes from redirecting pre-existing routes, and expanded shuttle service in January is possible due to alterations in the setup of Wintersession.

Because Annenberg was the only dining hall available to on-campus undergraduates in January 2011, administrators crafted shuttle routes with the aim of getting undergraduates to Annenberg during meal-times. This year, the College will open several dining halls for meals, freeing up shuttles for regular service.

—Staff writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction.

CORRECTION: NOV. 21, 2011

The Nov. 21 article "Shuttle Service Expanded To Mornings, Holidays" misstated the number of students that responded to a survey regarding shuttle service. That number was around 1,000, not 100.