Correction appended
With about 470 reservations so far, Northwestern’s new student-run airport shuttle service, AirHop, will start transporting students and members of the NU community to O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport starting Tuesday, Nov. 24.
AirHop is run by Northwestern Student Holdings in conjunction with Northwestern Airport Services, and has hired drivers through a coach bus company to drive students to Chicago’s airports this Thanksgiving break, said Chris Lawlor , president of Northwestern Airport Services .
Lawlor said this is the first time a coach bus service like AirHop has been offered at NU.
The service will also be available Winter Break and is currently accepting reservations.
Other schools, like Boston College, have programs like these with buses that run continuously all day and are funded and operated by the university, the Weinberg junior said.
“NU doesn’t have anything like that, and it’s very difficult as it is right now to get to the airport,” he said.
Student Holdings stepped in to improve the system because RideShare – a service that helps students find others who can split the cost of a cab fare – and cabs get expensive, and public transportation is unreliable and time-consuming, Lawlor said.
Prior to this new business, RideShare has been the most comparable service on campus, and is also under Student Holding’s control. But at only $10 for a ride to O’Hare and $15 for a ride to Midway, AirHop is a cheaper alternative.
“We can move more people at a better price, and it centralizes the operation,” Lawlor said.
RideShare is still a great program, he said, and can act as a backup in case the AirHop shuttle times don’t work with a rider’s schedule.
The AirHop coach buses will offer ample storage space for luggage, he said. They will pick passengers up at both Cahn Auditorium and Lincoln Street near Patten Gymnasium.
Heba Hasan heard about AirHop from a flier posted in the lobby of Allison Hall. She was going to book a reservation, but found out the service only runs Tuesday and Wednesday of the week of Thanksgiving break, and her flight is Thursday. She said she was still impressed with the service.
“The price is fairly reasonable compared to a taxi, and it’s safe and reliable,” the Medill freshman said.
Hasan then decided to look into RideShare, but said she isn’t sure whether anyone else will be traveling early Thursday morning.
After reservations are made, passengers receive a confirmation e-mail through which they pay and choose a pickup location.
Although it is mainly being marketed to students, AirHop is open to the public, said Louise Huterstein , president of Student Holdings.
Lawlor, Huterstein and other members of Student Holdings and Airport Services have been working on AirHop since last spring, Lawlor said.
Associated Student Government was previously responsible for transporting students to and from the airports with RideShare, but handed over the program to Student Holdings as it was proving too big an operation for ASG to run smoothly.
“It will be a nice model for a successful and useful student business,” Lawlor said.
Correction: In an earlier version of this article, a quote was misattributed to Zach Ratner. The quote has been removed.
