The UTD Mercury

Media Credit: Sonia Rego Software engineering senior Vishal Shanda, software engineering graduate student Jameela Hudson and electrical engineering graduate student Aarabhi Hande, board the UTD shuttle.

Media Credit: Nancy Branch UTD DART shuttles have pulled in the highest ridership numbers to date this semester. UTD Transportation Manager Nancy Branch said she doesn't expect lower gas prices will draw riders away from campus buses.

Campus may slow down over winter break, but the Comet Cruiser shuttle service will be moving as fast as ever.

The shuttle, which is operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), will not run on Dec. 25 for Christmas Day or Jan. 1 for New Year's Day, and it will run a reduced Saturday schedule on Dec. 26, said Nancy Branch UTD transportation manager.

Otherwise, the bus schedule will remain the same during the holidays. Branch said construction on campus, which will shut down parts of Drive A, will not impact the shuttle route or schedules.

The bus, which runs along Drive A and Rutford Drive, takes riders between the DART light rail station at Bush Turnpike on one end and the intersection of Coit Road and McCallum Boulevard on the other.

The shuttle service began last January after being approved, along with a $15 transportation fee that funds the free service, by a campus-wide student vote.

Ridership increased modestly during the first semester of operation and remained steady over the summer. The numbers skyrocketed in August as the fall semester neared and have remained high ever since.

A similar shuttle program at SMU took more than three years to achieve what UTD's did in less than a year, Branch said. Bus ridership for the fall semester has averaged more than 7,000 people per week.

"It's been a much bigger success than we'd imagined," Branch said. "It's a costly benefit, but it's definitely worth it."

Connie Renfro, who drives one of the two orange and green buses that serve the campus, said she carries up to 525 riders each day. She said the high numbers of students riding the bus was prompted by a simple fact.

"It's the gas prices," Renfro said. "A lot of students are just trying to save."

Silverio Zuniga, a biochemistry sophomore, is one of them. He lives near Fair Park and said he rides the bus almost every day because he doesn't like paying for gas.

"It's a lot easier just taking the bus," he said. "It takes me an hour and a half, an hour and forty minutes, but I end up doing homework and stuff on the bus anyways, so I don't mind."

Branch said she thinks ridership will remain high despite the recent drop in gas prices.

"Once students get used to going back and forth on the bus, I think they'll probably stick with it," she said.

For students without a car, the shuttle provides a much-needed way to get around, said Harini Byreddy, a biotechnology graduate student. She takes the bus to and from her off-campus apartment every day.

While the service is helpful, Byreddy said, it could be more convenient.

She said buses should run more frequently and later into the evening on Saturdays, when buses come hourly and service ends about 6 p.m., and there should be at least some service on Sundays, when the shuttle does not run at all.

Branch said that future expansion of the service is being considered, but said that no concrete plans have been developed.

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