After three weeks of mostly smooth service and positive reviews, the trial run of the weekend shuttle to Chicago has been extended to the end of Spring Quarter with the possibility of becoming permanent fixture on campus.
Former Associated Student Government President Adam Humann said he was pleased with the return of the shuttle, which he had worked to improve since 1999.
“(Lately) it’s been what it hasn’t been in the past, which is reliable and safe,” said Humann, a Weinberg senior.
While a substantial number of students used the shuttle during the trial period, Humann said he does not expect “phenomenal” turnout until the shuttle gets full publicity.
The schedule for the shuttle needed to be altered during the second week of the run because of lateness, Humann said. Before the schedule was updated, several students waited at Sargent Hall when they were supposed to go to the corner of Noyes Street and Sheridan Road. A new schedule was posted on HereAndNow, and Humann said he expects very few complaints.
Humann said he thinks the shuttle has a good chance of becoming a permanent service. The shuttle was funded through Winter Quarter, he said.
McCormick freshman Shabbi Khan used the shuttle during the second week of its run to go downtown to Michigan Avenue. Although he and his friends had to wait 50 minutes for the shuttle to take them from downtown Chicago to NU, he said using the shuttle was faster than taking the El.
“The ride was shorter,” he said. “If it comes, I don’t mind waiting.”
The original Chicago shuttle stopped running in June because buses were late, skipped stops or did not show up at all. For the trial period, the number of Chicago stops was reduced to two from 12 and a new bus company, Royal American Bus Co., was hired.
Speech senior Alicia Tam said she had a “bad experience” taking the shuttle her freshman year.
“We were waiting for it downtown in Chicago, and it basically just never showed up,” she said. “We had already waited for 45 minutes and we started walking toward the El. Then it came but it was going in the wrong direction.”
The shuttle runs Friday and Saturday nights from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. It stops at the intersection of Noyes Street and Sheridan Road and at the corner of Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue on the Evanston campus. In Chicago, it travels to Addison and Clark streets, and to Michigan and Chicago avenues. Two buses run between the four stops every 30 minutes with a 30 minute break.
