UCSD Arriba Shuttle Route to Be Absorbed by MTS SuperLoop

The Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) SuperLoop Rapid 201/202 route will extend bus service to midnight and absorb the UCSD Arriba shuttle route, beginning Jan. 27.

Apartment communities along the Arriba route, which goes through Lebon Drive, Nobel Drive, and Regents Road, house a large segment of the student population.

A campus-wide email cited a variety of reasons for ending the Arriba shuttle route. The southern end of the SuperLoop Rapid 201/202 route currently overlaps with that of the Arriba shuttles. At twice the size of the shuttles, MTS buses also hold a much larger capacity. By eliminating an alternate route operator, UCSD and MTS believe these changes will streamline bus services to serve the influx of students heading to and from campus.

According to the UCSD transportation website, Arriba shuttles typically stop at Gilman Transit Center on Myers Drive every 15 minutes. Likewise, the SuperLoop buses also arrive every 15 minutes. However, at the beginning of this school year, the addition of the 201A bus—a variation of the 201 bus service—increased the number of buses on the SuperLoop route, which has allowed for a greater amount of student passengers, particularly during campus “rush hours.”

UCSD Transportation and MTS are hoping that extending SuperLoop bus services to midnight will help accommodate the commuters affected by the absorption of the Arriba shuttles. Furthermore, more buses will be added to the 201/202 route, based on the updated map on the MTS website.

Josh Kavanagh, Director of Transportation Services, told The Triton that student shuttle drivers were notified prior to these changes so that they could plan their shifts accordingly.

“Those students that selected Arriba will have the opportunity to move into other regular shifts,” said Kavanagh. “As we look toward redeploying service a year from now in support of new graduate student housing, I anticipate growing our student driver program even further.”

Beyond the Jan. 27 changes, there will be more shuttle route changes following the opening of the Gilman bridge. Proposals for these shuttle routes have been submitted through the UCSD Transportation Virtual Town Hall system. Some of these changes will affect the new Mesa graduate apartments and the area on Gilman Drive leading into Warren College Voigt Drive.

The last day of operations for the Arriba shuttles is Feb. 1. Students will still have free, unlimited access to the expanded SuperLoop route with the U-Pass Compass Cloud program.

Ella Chen is the News Editor of The Triton. You can follow her @cinder_ellachen.