Fall Semester Transportation Changes: Shuttle Schedule, Parking

By ARI CASE

The fall semester has featured changes throughout campus, both in and out of the classroom. Within the first week of classes, several updates were made to campus transportation options, with updated parking lots and new shuttle routes. 

During the end of Spring 2026, a major construction project started on upper campus. The construction of a new athletic field house required the closure of the Boyle parking lot. It remains closed currently, without any further information on a decisive re-opening date. With that, many students struggled to find parking for the first few days of the semester. 

At the end of August, a temporary but ongoing solution was provided: two more lots have been made available at the back of campus. The Sisters of Charity have provided use of the McGowan Lot at the edge of Caritas Christi, and the second lot is a gravel pad not far from DeChantal Hall. Due to the distance to those lots, the shuttle routes were modified to add stops at each of them for safety and efficiency.

“These changes are in response to needs, and they’re trying to keep it as a free resource,” Austin Veiga, director of residence and commuter life, said. “Something that we’re committed to as a University is that the shuttle is working, and parking [especially free parking] works for everyone here.” 

Every Setonian, student or faculty member has different needs and uses for the parking and shuttle services. Some may never need to ride the shuttle while others rely on it more than five times daily during the week. This difference becomes evident for students in the School of Visual and Performing Arts, which has the majority of its classes in the downtown campus buildings. 

The shuttle route schedules were updated to include a five minute increase for each route according to Michelle Proctor, chief of campus police. This happened after the request of  Kellee Van Aken, dean of the school of visual and performing arts, for an updated schedule. It was communicated after several student reports of shuttles causing tardiness to courses. The scheduled routes are meant to align with course times, but can be close even when running on-schedule.

“It takes planning to make sure you can get where you’re able to go,” Kimberley Bassi-Cook, director of disability services, said. She went on to explain that Seton Hill has a tighter campus than many other colleges and universities, which provides a significant benefit to the community. That benefit changes for arts students.

“Just because it [the shuttle] works for me, doesn’t mean it works for everyone,” Bassi-Cook said. “Without communication, it’s the first best guess, and those problems might not ever get solved.”

She shared a common sentiment with both Veiga and campus police: issues with anything on campus should be expressed to those who can help. For parking, shuttles, and other things related to campus safety, that means reaching out directly to campus police.

“Go to the source,” Bassi-Cook said. “Sometimes we are hesitant to go to, or ask of, the people in charge. But we have to communicate … It lets that source know there’s a pain point they may not be aware of. They might think we know something we don’t – or vice versa.”

In fact, there were some challenges with the shuttles that had not yet been communicated to campus police until the end of September. According to Proctor, among them were issues with the shuttle tracker and inconsistency between routes. Unfortunately, one known issue is not possible to resolve at present: the lack of tracking for buses.

The shuttle service is contracted out for two running shuttles within the specified schedule. When one or both Seton Hill shuttles are out of commission, the contracted company is obligated to provide a bus to serve in place of the university shuttles.

“The accessible shuttle was down, so they had to bring in a bus,” Proctor stated. “That’s why there was only one shuttle visible on the tracker app for the first month.”

Proctor explained that they cannot easily transfer the tracking to a bus. She believes it does not use a mobile unit and is directly installed into the University shuttles.

As the situation evolves, campus police have been working to solve as many problems as possible. Communication between students, faculty and related departments is crucial to the continued function of the shuttle service and parking.

“I hope that upon graduation, students have learned how to navigate challenges and how to advocate,” Bassi-Cook expressed. “Active participation and active communication are so important.”