The wheels on the bus went round and round Wednesday morning, but the seats were almost empty.

As Northwestern’s new shuttle from the Ryan Field parking lot made its runs on the first day of classes, only nine people rode the 31-seat buses to various stops on campus during the morning.

Because of campus construction that will temporarily eliminate 200 on-campus parking spots, 200 spaces were reserved this fall at Ryan Field’s west parking lot for eligible NU students, faculty and staff.

But on Wednesday, only a few students took advantage of the shuttle service, which was designed to encourage students to park at Ryan rather than fight for limited spaces on campus.

“We’re just in the beginning stages now,” said shuttle driver Odell Owens as he wound along his route. Owens, who has driven for the CTA and charter bus services for nearly 38 years, said he thought ridership on the maroon and gold Royal American buses would increase in the next few days after classes got under way.

The plan for the spaces, which each cost $25, was adopted by NU last spring after being developed by the Evanston Parking and Traffic Advisory Committee led by Steven Zecker, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders.

Although NU juniors with a permit can park only at Ryan Field, not all 200 winners of the junior parking lottery last May have applied for spaces, according to Merrill Silverman, University Police technical services sergeant. He said the total number of applications had not yet been tallied.

Associated Student Government President Adam Humann on Wednesday called the shuttle “a band-aid solution” to the parking shortage. “For students, this solution isn’t the best in the world,” he said. “I really hope the administration makes parking more of a priority than it is right now.”

The most popular run was the last of the morning, when six people rode from Ryan Field. But only one was an undergraduate student taking advantage of the $25 plan.

After driving from her Rogers Park apartment, Speech senior Kelley Elliott took the shuttle to South Campus, but its schedule made the bus arrive only four minutes before her 9 a.m. class. “I’m kind of cutting it close for class, but otherwise everything’s fine with the service,” she said.

Elliott said she didn’t want to pay $306 for an on-campus permit. “I’d rather buy books or something else with that money.”

She said the difficulty of finding on-campus parking also pushed her to buy a Ryan Field permit.

Waiting for the bus at the stadium lot, Rich Kang, an NU research technologist, said he rode the shuttle on its first day, Sept. 11 and was the only person to use the shuttle all day.

Although he said he was happy with the service’s performance, he said having to park at Ryan Field was an inconvenience. “I’d rather park on campus, of course, where I’m working,” Kang said.

Zecker said it would take some time for the university to adjust to the new system, including the Ryan Field location.

“People are still learning the system,” Zecker said Wednesday.

Although there have been few riders, he said more publicity and the impact of Chicago-area winters would put more people on the shuttle.

“When the weather gets bad, you’re going to have more people wanting to take it,” Zecker said.

Taking the bus back to Ryan Field in the afternoon, graduate student Christine Dettmer agreed with Zecker’s prediction.

“There’ll be a lot more (using Ryan Field) once it starts snowing,” Dettmer said.

Humann was less confident about the shuttle’s future, saying he didn’t know if rider numbers would improve.

“If the shuttle service is very effective and people see that it’s faster to park at Ryan Field and take the shuttle than it is to park on campus, then it will increase,” he said.

Bill Smith, who drives the afternoon/evening and night shuttles on campus, said the runs have been going smoothly and on time.

“You drive 15 miles an hour, 30 if you have to” and the bus keeps on schedule, Smith said. “You adjust accordingly.”

Several people almost boarded Smith’s bus, confusing it with the intercampus shuttle to Chicago, which are also Royal American maroon and gold buses. According to Debra Garfi, manager of NU Support Services, the intercampus buses have signs next to their doors noting their intercampus run.

Owens compared the new NU service to a shuttle he drove at Northern Trust Bank several years ago for the Keeshin bus company. At the beginning, he said, “it’s always a little slow. It takes a while for ridership to grow, for people to learn what you’re doing and where you’re going.”

In the meantime, Owens had advice for those worried about the nearly empty shuttles: “Just roll with it.”