The University of Connecticut is reducing bus services on the Storrs campus in the spring due to budgetary reasons.
The changes are beginning on Sunday, March 17 and continuing through June 30. According to university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz, hours for HuskyGo shuttles are ending earlier and certain bus lines will have a reduced number of shuttles.
Shuttle services from Monday to Thursday are going to end at approximately 10:30 p.m. instead of midnight. According to Reitz, this change will include the Hunting Lodge Road regional bus service.
On Fridays, shuttle services will end at 10 p.m. Additionally, shuttle services on Saturdays are going to end at 10:30 p.m. Currently, shuttles on both Fridays and Saturdays end at 1 a.m.
Reitz also confirmed that the Yellow line will be reduced to two shuttles instead of three during peak times.
The Campus Loop service that operates on weekends and during summer and breaks is going to be reduced to a single bus that will alternate between its two routes as opposed to having one bus operating on each route at the same time.
There have been no changes to Connecticut bus services not affiliated with the university, such as CT Transit buses traveling to Hartford and other surrounding areas.
Aside from confirming that the changes were being made for budgetary reasons, Reitz did not provide any additional information about who decided on the changes and when the decisions were made.
The changes were first announced by a user on Reddit. The user who initially posted them claimed in a later comment that the changes were decided in a closed meeting, so they did not have a source they could link, and there was no known plan to announce the changes to the student body. The changes were confirmed in the Daily Digest yesterday.
Commenters on the initial Reddit thread expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that UConn was reducing bus services that were used heavily by students who live far from the center of campus and those who work late nights.
One commenter pointed out that dining hall employees who work later shifts may need the 11:30 p.m. buses to get home after working. Other comments emphasized that the Yellow line, the only weekday shuttle run that is losing a bus, is often one of the most useful and crowded buses.
The announcement in the Daily Digest said that students could email UConn Transportation Services at info@wrtd.org for more information about campus transportation.