UH has unveiled a fresh fleet of Cougar Line buses for the new school year.
“Once they step on board, they will immediately notice how much of an upgrade they are to the temporary shuttles that were in place last semester,” said Robert Browand, director of Parking and Transportation Services, in a news release.
Groome Transportation, which has provided the new buses, began working with UH last spring. The buses used by the Cougar Line in Spring 2013 are being replaced by the new editions.
“There are 12 of the brand-new transit-style buses. In addition, there are eight 1-year-old shuttle buses to be used as backups and for charters,” said Richard Zagrzecki, a communications coordinator for UH.
UH’s new buses can be tracked through the “Cougar Trax” service, which can be accessed through any smart phone. | Courtesy of Richard Zagrzecki
The buses feature monitors that will broadcast UH-related information and have seats embellished with the UH logo. Each vehicle is also decorated with large photos of UH students.
The students were part of a UH marketing campaign that the university’s graphic designers came up with to make the buses fun and exciting, Zagrzecki said.
Zagrzecki said that the new buses do more than just look good — they can also seat 35 students. If standing room is utilized, each bus has a 50-student capacity.
“We think students will really enjoy the experience of riding our new buses as they get around campus,” Browand said in a news release.
The campus bus routes will remain the same as last year.
I kind of find the people images plastered on the bus are a bit tacky, and I think a lot of people would just prefer plain and simple.
I’d rather UH bring a convenient shuttle route from the campus to downtown so that students can easily catch the METRO express buses out to the Park & Rides in the suburbs. Taking the local buses from UH to downtown can take awhile than it should have to, and it can be icky sometimes, if you know what I mean. If they need to charge a fare to keep it running, I believe $0.25-$0.50 would be ideal. It’d stop along all the cross streets that each express bus stops along.