This semester, Quinnipiac University’s shuttle routes have been updated to reflect ongoing construction and new parking policies.

The blue and yellow shuttle routes are now green and orange. The red, orange and green shuttles are now being utilized as the York Hill express, which only travels between the Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses. The blue and yellow shuttles go to York Hill, Mount Carmel, Theatre Arts Center, Whitney Village and Westwoods.

“We were making some changes to the shuttles for this year, and naming the Bobcat Express, the colors of blue and yellow seemed appropriate,” wrote Patti Pragano, executive assistant to the chief of public safety, in an email to the Chronicle.

Haley Ruccio, a sophomore 3+1 film, television, and media arts major, said she felt that this new change has made navigating the shuttle more difficult.

“I think the routes and stops changing has been very confusing, especially because the routes of the green and orange shuttles have completely switched with the routes of the blue and yellow shuttles,” Ruccio wrote in an email.

Instead of a larger bus, there is now a smaller handicapped-accessible bus that goes to North Haven, said Tony Reyes, chief of Public Safety.

The arrival times have additionally changed, because shuttles arrive later than expected in previous semesters, Reyes said. Before they were listed out, but now the shuttle mobile app updates with the shuttle locations.

The Westwood Lot is now a consistent stop, to encourage more students to use it, Reyes said. It is also because the Whitney Lot is no longer a stop, because of construction and lack of student use.

Due to construction, shuttles are currently not stopping at the South Lot shuttle stop. Instead, they now go to Harwood Gate in an effort to minimize student wait times, Reyes said.

“We are temporarily using the Harwood Gate as the shuttle stop until we find a more permanent location,” Reyes said. “And part of that is just finalizing some permits.”

Shannon Brickett, a junior mathematics major, said the stop moving did not have a huge impact on her ability to get to class on time.

“At first I was annoyed about the South Lot (stop) moving, but when I think about it you are either taking a long time to walk to the cafe (from) the Harwood Gate, if you’re at South Lot you’re taking a long time to walk to CCE, so it doesn’t really matter where it is,” said Brickett.

Brickett said while she usually waits at the stop for the next shuttle, the mobile app has accurate arrival times for her when using it.

However, Ruccio said that her experience with the mobile app has been confusing. She said she also had experiences where the shuttle did not travel the route it was listed under.

“There’s a lot of discrepancies between what the shuttle tracking app says and what is reality,” Ruccio said. “The times are never accurate, and there are almost always more shuttles running that aren’t being tracked on the app.”

Reyes said he wants to improve the shuttle experience because more students are using the shuttle as their primary form of transportation.

“We want students to use (the shuttles), it’s going to help alleviate the parking situation on campus,” Reyes said.

The shuttle app now gives students the option to rate their shuttle experience. Suggestions collected from the app may change the direction the shuttles function in the future, Reyes said.

Reyes encourages students to give feedback through phone or email, whether it’s about a good or bad experience they have had.

“Constantly we’re evaluating the experience for the shuttles,” Reyes said. “It’s very important to us to make sure that it’s the best it can be.”

Reyes said if there are any changes, such as a stop moving or shuttle breaking down, students will be updated via email. 

Any student with questions or concerns can call public safety at (203) 582-6200 or email [email protected].