UH tries late-day shuttle service

To reduce the need for dorm residents to bring cars to campus, the University of Hawaii at Manoa is starting a new shuttle service tonight to Waikiki, Ala Moana Center, the Ward entertainment and shopping complex, and Restaurant Row.

The service will run from Thursday through Monday and will be free for six weeks for students who show a valid UH ID card.

The first shuttle will leave student housing at 4 p.m., and the last bus returns to the campus at about midnight.

Shuttle buses will go down Kapahulu Avenue and through Waikiki on Kuhio Avenue, then head to Ala Moana Center, the Ward complex and then to Restaurant Row. The shuttles will go back to Ala Moana Park, down Kalakaua Avenue to Fort DeRussy, Kuhio Beach and then back up Kapahulu to the Manoa campus. The entire circuit will take about two hours, with shuttles scheduled to leave UH-Manoa at 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m.

If the trial run is successful, the university will sell a $20 shuttle pass for the remainder of the semester. Anyone who already has the U-PASS $100-per-semester city bus pass will be allowed to use the shuttle service at no additional charge.

The service is an extension of the current Rainbow Shuttle service operated by the parking office. The university credits a suggestion by a UH-Manoa student senator for getting the idea going.