Campus Shuttle

Overview

Princeton University provides shuttle service between the main campus, other campuses (such as Forrestal), and University-owned housing complexes, including the GC, Butler, Lawrence, and Stanworth. There are also shuttles on Saturdays between graduate housing complexes and local shopping centers, including Walmart, Trader Joe's, Wegman's and the Princeton Shopping Center. A map of shuttle routes is available here (pdf), and schedules are available here. There is also a real-time bus location mapper available here.
Shuttle service changes during holidays and the summer, so please check the schedules. There is also an on-demand shuttle for late at night, which serves some areas not normally covered by TigerTransit. Kim Jackson runs TigerTransit; please send her your feedback (both positive and negative!) at

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Reminders

  • On-demand shuttles (9pm-3am, 7 days/week):
    • Please call the On-Demand number at 609-258-RIDE (7433) to schedule a ride. Any additional unscheduled passenger(s) boarding during a scheduled ride will not have immediate access to their destination. They will be lowest priority and may not be able to board if seats are needed for scheduled pick-ups.
    • For everyone's safety and convenience, the On-Demand shuttle drivers have been told not to stop if passengers flag down the shuttle. Please call to schedule a pickup, rather than look for the shuttle's location on the GPS tracker.
    • The On-Demand shuttle should go whereever the regular shuttles travel (except the Saturday Shopper), plus to the Princeton Junction train station after the Dinky stops running. This includes main campus, Forrestal campus, all graduate housing locations, Canal Point Blvd and Market Fair.
    • Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, you should only call the on-demand when there is not already a shuttle line running where you need to go. This means that between 9pm-11pm on weekdays, when the Campus Circulator and the East line are running, you should not call for rides from main campus locations to Stanworth, Lawrence, the GC, or Butler, and you should not call for rides from Lawrence to the GC. A reasonable guideline is that if the regular shuttle route takes less than 20 minutes, you should not be calling for the on-demand shuttle.

History

The campus shuttle for graduate students started in 2003, as a trial program developed by the GSG and University Services (with only the Orange Tiger-tram line previously running along Elm Drive and a much older late-night shuttle.) At the time, due to increased demand for graduate student parking, graduate students living in University housing on the new Green-line shuttle route gave up on-campus parking during the day (during the academic year when parking is in the most demand and the shuttle was running), to make enough space for graduate student commuters. It has since grown into a full-time, year-round service, with ridership steadily increasing from its inception.

Through Fall 2008, the P-Rides service provided the Green-line (serving graduate student housing to campus), the Blue-line (connecting lot 21 parking to campus), the Orange-line (connecting lot 7 parking garage, lot 21 parking, to central campus up Elm Drive), and the P-Rides Express late night on-demand van. These were managed by a contract with the GMTMA, with A-1 Limousine as the shuttle provider.

Starting Spring 2009 (Jan 5, 2009), the new TigerTransit system has replaced this service, with new routes, new schedules, increased service, and a new shuttle provider: First Transit.

Old Announcements

  • Effective 9/17/2009, additional changes to the shuttle system will come into effective. The new shuttle routes can be found here.
  • Effective 5/4/2009, shuttle service has been reduced to an "End of Semester" schedule, as classes have ended. The GSG believes that graduate student transportation needs are not significantly lessened once classes end but the semester continues. However, Transportation and Parking Services felt it was necessary to reduce service due to budget cuts. The GSG has worked with TPS to reduce the impact of the service reduction as much as possible, negotiating better schedules and on-campus parking arrangements than were originally proposed.

    • TigerTransit will operate on a modified schedule from May 4 – May 22
    • ROUTE MODIFICATIONS
      • The West Line will run from 8 am – 6 pm.
      • The Express Line and the East Commuter are no longer in service.
      • The Campus Circulator and East Line have a frequency change between the hours of 1 and 4 pm daily to every 30 minutes.
      • Forrestal/PPPL service will be from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 pm.
      • In the evening, an on-demand van will run seven days a week, from 11:00 pm – 2:00 am until May 20th.
    • PARKING
      • Beginning Monday, May 4, and lasting through August 31, 2009, graduate students can park, space permitting in Lots 20, 21, 25 and the signed graduate parking areas along Western Way and FitzRandolph. This applies to commuter and resident students.
    • Summer TigerTransit schedules will be available May 18, 2009
  • 4/22/2009: The University announced that in response to student concerns, the on-demand shuttle has been extended back to 3am on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The GSG is continuing advocacy to find a way to reinstate the Saturday daytime shuttles.
  • Effective 4/11/2009, the University has unilaterally made a number of cuts to the TigerTransit service, in particular discontinuing the Saturday Campus Connection and the Saturday Shopper routes. Unlike for previous changes, the GSG was not consulted on these changes and was not given the opportunity to discuss alternative changes to respond to budget cuts. We will now work with TPS to propose alternatives to these cuts. Any suggestions or ideas are welcome at

    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

    . If you would like to comment on the cuts or provide personal stories, please e-mail Kim Jackson at

    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

    and cc:

    This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

    • The GSG has written an open letter to the administration commenting on these service cuts.
    • The GSG has started a petition to reinstate the Saturday shuttle routes. Please sign the petition. You can also view the current signatures. Update: We have received over 300 signatures so far. We are continuing to work with the University to restore some Saturday services. Please check back for more information.
  • Effective 3/23/2009: Transportation and Parking Services (TPS), in consultation with the Graduate Student Government, is making several changes to the shuttle system that will go into effect Monday, March 23, and will affect users of the Express line, Campus Circulator, and evening on-demand service.

    • The GSG Parking & Transportation Committee recommended these changes based on our analysis of the shuttle ridership data and the feedback we've received from students.
    • SERVICE CHANGES

      1) The morning Express line will no longer stop at the Graduate College.
      2) The Campus Circulator will run every 15 minutes (instead of 30 minutes) in the morning.

      3) The morning Express line will run every 10 minutes and will be extended until 11:30am.
      4) The afternoon Express line will be discontinued and the Campus Circulator will increase afternoon capacity.
      5) Updated schedules will be posted at all stops.
      6) Misuse of the on-demand service will be reduced.
      7) The Central line will stop service at 7pm (instead of 9pm).
  • To address overcrowding on the morning Express line, the following route and schedule changes have been made, effective Monday 2/9/2009:

    • A "tag along" bus will follow the entire line at critical service hours, picking up any passengers remaining at a stop due to overcrowding.
    • The Campus Circulator will now stop at Graduate College throughout the day. From 7 am to 11 am the frequency of the Campus Circulator will be every 30 minutes. From 11 am to midnight the frequency will be every 15 minutes. This change provides Graduate College residents with direct access to and from campus.
  • Effective Monday 2/2/2009, GPS tracking will begin for all shuttles (including on-demand shuttles). See: www.princeton.edu/transportation/tigertracker
  • Effective Monday 2/2/2009, the schedules on most lines have been updated slightly. These changes to times and frequencies should improve the ability to transfer between the shuttle lines throughout the day, and reduce delays due to traffic and driver breaks.
    • We have also resolved an issue with certain express shuttles not showing up, and others being full when they arrived at Hibben/Magie. There will now be a second shuttle trailing the express shuttle starting at Magie for some trips in the morning to pick up additional passengers. Initially this bus was mistakenly redirected from a scheduled time, skipping the GC and Lawrence. This has now been corrected.
    • TPS is closely monitoring for overcrowding on the express shuttles. If passengers are left behind at a stop, TPS will know immediately and can take action to increase capacity quickly. If you are ever left behind or experience a problem, please call the dispatcher and/or e-mail the GSG.
  • Effective Saturday 1/17/2009, the Saturday Shopper Shuttle route schedule has been updated to more accurately reflect the time needed for the route.
  • Effective Monday 1/12/2009, the Campus Circulator will stop at Hibben/Magie instead of Lot 23A at all hours. Further, the Central Line will no longer stop at Hibben/Magie or Lot 23A.
  • The new TigerTransit shuttle routes began on January 5, 2009. Please see the TigerTransit website for more information.
    • Use TigerTransit On-demand Shuttles daily from 9pm-3am starting January 5, 2009, to travel between graduate housing locations, to/from main campus, to/from Forrestal Campus, and from Princeton Junction train station (after the Dinky stops runnig).
    • New Saturday shuttles to/from campus and to/from Route 1 shopping centers start on January 5, 2009.
    • GPS tracking for TigerTransit shuttles begins in February.