The conclusion of the fall semester also brings the conclusion of Tiger Trails’ first semester of bus service to the University.  The new system, provided by the transportation company First Transit, took control of the University’s bus system from Capital Area Transit System in August.  Tiger Trails features additional routes to the Garden District, Perkins/Stanford and downtown, adjustments to the existing routes and a real-time bus locator system. Gary Graham, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation director, said bus stops were added throughout the semester, and the Night Bus B route is under evaluation. The route, which carries 30 hours of the system’s service, only serves about 45 riders a week. Students can follow their bus and register for mobile access online at http://lsu.transloc.com. Graham said the Web site receives more than 30,000 hits per month. Tiger Trails will also have its own fleet of buses. The new, smaller buses already arrived and are in use, and the larger buses will arrive in late spring, Graham said. The system is renting the larger buses currently in use. A design for the new buses was already chosen, but Graham said bidding issues prevented the new buses from being wrapped with the new design earlier in the semester. “[Wrapping the buses] will be done by Christmas,” Graham said. “Because of the issues with the bid, it’s going to allow for all of the buses to be done at one time instead of having to pull one bus out at a time to wrap them.” The new system hasn’t received many complaints from students, Graham said. “[First Transit] is a vast improvement from the service we got before,” Graham said. “They’ve been very responsive to the concerns and changes made to the system.” “I’ve never been late to class,” James Hawthorn, biology sophomore, said. “[The buses] aren’t too crowded, and I like how you can track it online. It’s very cool.”Graham said ridership increased with more than 30,000 passengers using the service each week, but officials are unsure of the exact increase because of unreliable counts in the past. “Past counts have ridership numbers at 40,000 to 45,000 riders a week, but the counting methods used were not reliable,” Graham said. Students are encouraged to give feedback on the bus system to the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation or to the text message line at 454-9523. “The system is designed for and by the students, and we want to make sure they get the kind of service they want,” Graham said. Tiger Trails is also providing students with a shuttle service to the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans for holiday breaks for a $20 roundtrip fee. A shuttle provided by Campus Transit to the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is also offered to students for $10.  More than 120 students used the shuttle service for the Thanksgiving holiday, said Noah Miller, Student Government transportation director. “It went surprisingly smooth,” Miller said. “For the first time, I thought there’d be some bumps and bruises on the way … I couldn’t imagine it going better.” The shuttle service will provide transportation to the Baton Rouge and New Orleans airports Dec. 11 to 13 and return service Jan. 17 and 18. Students can find the departure times and register for the service online at http://www.sg.lsu.edu/holidayshuttle.php.—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]