The Office of Transportation Operations and Maintenance Facilities Management has shifted the red-line route of the AU shuttle this semester to run through main campus.
This route change is meant to cater towards the heavy ridership between main campus and the Tenleytown Metro station, according to office manager Alef Worku.
The red route now goes from the Tenleytown Metro, through campus, and then finally to the Spring Valley building. The blue-line route has stayed the same this semester.
“If we just keep going straight to the Spring Valley Building like we used to there wouldn’t be enough ridership to warrant running it every day,” said Worku.
Previously, the red-route left the Metro station and then traveled toward campus on Nebraska Avenue before it made a right onto Massachusetts Avenue toward the old Washington College of Law, now known as the Spring Valley Building. This route did not previously include any stops on main campus.
At the end of the last academic year, the University hired a research consultant to do an extensive study into how the University can best use it’s transportation resources, Worku said.
“We wanted to reexamine how we could best serve the students, faculty, staff and AU community as a whole with the resources we have available,” said Worku, noting the University’s recent expansion projects, including the construction of East Campus and the relocation of the Washington College of Law.
The study showed that the majority of red-route riders are either coming from, or going to main campus, with a smaller portion of riders going to and from the Spring Valley building.
The high volume of one direction ridership to campus is really the driving force behind these shuttle route changes, according to Worku.
More than 90 percent of riders want to either come to main campus, or go from main campus to the Tenleytown Metro. The adjusted route allows anyone leaving the Tenleytown metro to take either the blue route shuttle or red route shuttle to campus, or from campus to the Metro station in Tenleytown.
In addition to making campus more accessible to students via the AU shuttle services, the Office of Transportation Operations and Facilities Management is doing its best to utilize their resources at hand and provide as many services to their customers as possible, according to Worku.
The shuttles run from from 6:30 a.m. until midnight Monday through Thursday.
In addition to two red-line busses there are also two blue-line busses that run in the morning, and a single express line bus running from the Tenleytown Metro to the Spring Valley building without making any stops on main campus.
The express line runs from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 am, and from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. This line does not run on weekends, and is distinguished by parking on the opposite side of the other busses at the main campus shuttle station.
An extra bus is added to the blue-line route in the afternoon from 4:00 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. and in the evening from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is due to the large volume of passengers wanting to reach or leave campus after day classes end, and evening classes begin.
On Friday and Saturday nights, bus service is extended until 3:30 a.m., and begins at 8 a.m.
Worku said the Office of Transportation Operations and Maintenance Facilities hopes these changes will make the shuttle more accessible and efficient for the large number of one-way riders between campus and the Tenleytown Metro station.
