New Saturday shuttle offers transportation from Hill to Santa Monica
UCLA Housing and Hospitality officials launched a new pilot program that takes students to Santa Monica via Bruin Bus about every hour on Saturday. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 28, 2015 1:12 a.m.
Students can take a free UCLA shuttle directly from the Hill to downtown Santa Monica on Saturdays.
UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services officials launched a new pilot program that takes students from De Neve Plaza and Hedrick Hall to Santa Monica via BruinBus about every hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. UCLA Housing began to offer the service at the end of the second week of fall quarter, and moved Westwood Village grocery shuttle operations from Saturday to Sunday to accommodate the new program.
Karen Hedges, associate director for UCLA Residential Life, said she thinks the Westwood shuttle is better suited for Sunday because students who go home for the weekend are back on campus. She added more students used the shuttle the first Sunday it was offered than students did on previous Saturdays.
Last weekend, shuttles transported 508 students to the intersection of Tiverton and Le Conte avenues near Ralphs and 167 students to Wilshire Boulevard and Third Street in Santa Monica, Hedges added.
Hedges said officials used housing fees to fund the new shuttle, but did not specify how much the program costs to operate. She added the service is provided at no cost to students because it is still in its early stages.
“The only complaints have been about the buses being too full,” Hedges said.
Hedges said Housing officials decided to offer the shuttle to Santa Monica so students can explore other parts of Los Angeles. She added officials plan to expand the use of the shuttle to take students to different locations, like the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and Third Street and Fairfax Avenue, throughout the year.
UCLA Housing advertised the new shuttle on digital displays in residence halls and on Facebook and on its Twitter, but some students are still unaware of the program.
Daniela Rosales, a third-year comparative literature student, said she was not aware of the change.
Jessica Lopez, a third-year sociology student, said she wasn’t previously aware of the option, but plans to use the shuttle now that she knows about it.
Other students waiting to get on a Westwood shuttle said the changes to the shuttle schedule did not affect their trips to the Village.
