“Unbelievable!” I thought as I stared at the Double Map app on my phone. My friend and I watched in dumbfounded amazement as three shuttles headed toward the Cathedral and away from Newman Towers. After 15 minutes, a senior standing with us was getting frustrated, too.       

“I’m calling an Uber,” she groaned. Ten minutes later,  the senior’s Uber arrived—the shuttle arrived five minutes later.

This is just one of many stories that other students and I have experienced with Loyola’s shuttle system. When students talk about the shuttles, you never hear “I love how reliable it is!” or “It’s so convenient!” Instead, stories of deception and frustration will be the most likely reply. The disappointment many students have with the shuttles is seemingly immeasurable.

Some of the most common complaints about the inefficiency of the shuttle system include, coming back from the FAC and only being dropped off at Lange Court because the shuttle was heading back to main campus. Watching helplessly on Double Map as three shuttles go in the opposite direction of where you’re going.Watching three or four shuttles line up at a stop as only one person gets on.

One time, I waited a half-hour for a shuttle to come to Newman—it didn’t arrive. After I had given up, bought dinner, and took the elevator ride back to my apartment, a shuttle finally arrived as I shut the door to my dorm room. It boggles the mind how uneven and bizarre Loyola’s shuttle system is.

From a glance, one can easily see just how inherently wrong Loyola’s shuttle system seems to be operating: the shuttles seem to be trying to operate on a loop with only one line. That alone should raise a few eyebrows. The layout of Loyola’s campus makes it so that you basically cannot even run a looped route, because of all of the sharp turns on campus that the shuttle has to drive through. This makes it so that riders who are not trying to get to either Hillside, Eastside, or main campus are hoping and praying that the shuttle gods will be merciful and allow a shuttle to arrive at the stop they’re waiting at.

However, there is a solution that I have come up with that could work. This may sound like a shocking and groundbreaking proposal, but it is merely a modest one: Why not just make two shuttle lines? The original green line could still exist; however, it would instead run from headquarters on York Road to Eastside, Hillside, main campus, Lange and the FAC. It would then turn around at the FAC and take the reverse route starting with Lange and ending at the York Road headquarters.

In addition, we could have a second line. This line would run from main campus, Lange, the FAC and Newman. It could then head back down Cold Spring Lane and onto main campus where it would begin its loop again. Of course, I am simply putting forth a suggestion as a concerned frequent shuttle rider. The least Loyola could do is just have more shuttles running at any given time—not just three or four—or even one on the weekends.