New Shark Shuttle Bus

Last updated on Oct 6, 2019

By Andrew Scarpaci

Staff Writer

The campus shuttle to Hicksville, formerly known as the Ocelot shuttle and then the Pioneer Wagon, underwent a whole new make-over. The new Shark shuttle continues the same route from Hillwood Commons to the Broad-way Mall and then the Hicksville LIRR station, but this year, students are riding in style.

Beginning this semester, there is a larger shuttle bus transporting students to Hicksville. Inside, the shuttle has leather seats, seatbelts and a GPS tracking system that allows students to track the shuttle in real time, according to SGA President Ashley Rodriguez.

“This year we have a bus, it’s more comfortable,” Laura Fernandez, junior nutrition major, said. “This semester so far I’ve gone about three times. And each [shuttle] was really different.” The first time she took the Shark shuttle, her ride was a coach bus with about 50 seats. Another time she rode on a vehicle that could fit approximately 2o people. “It was still comfortable and very nice,” she said.

Students who have ridden the shuttle in the past were surprised to find that the shuttle stop locations have also changed this semester. At the mall, the shuttle previously stopped outside of Macy’s department store entrance; now it stops at a small sidewalk in front of the Ikea parking garage. “This year, they drop you near Starbucks in front of Ikea. Last year, it was in front of the Burger Village,” Fernandez said.

At the LIRR station, the shuttle used to stop at the westbound side parking lot; now it stops by the sidewalk on Newbridge Road, beside the eastbound parking lot.

One student, junior health and physical education major Troy Bension, is satisfied with the changes. “The stops are more convenient and there is more comfort and room for more people [inside],” Bension said.

However, these changes to the shuttle bus’s stops were not announced to the LIU community at large. One faculty member who regularly takes the shuttle was not pleased with the changes. He found out the hard way about the new stops when the shuttle never appeared at the original stop at the LIRR station on the first day of classes. The new shuttle busses do not have any markings to indicate it is the Post shuttle as opposed to any other bus. The professor, who did not want to be named, worried that students would have a hard time finding the bus.

Though the confusion could end soon, according to Rodriguez. “The shuttle bus will eventually be completely designed with our school logo and colors around the bus,” she said. The busses might also get smaller. The reason for the new, larger busses, Rodriguez said, is because the old shuttles were in need of maintenance repairs.