After a terminated contract and a fee increase that almost doubled, two Panther Express shuttle buses running on a new time schedule will begin shuttling students around campus and into town today.

Hugh O’Hara, student body president, issued an executive order declaring the new bus routes August 13 instead of waiting for the Student Senate to decide on a schedule, so as soon as students were back on campus, the shuttle bus would be available for them.

“If we waited for senate to get back that would’ve taken until at least Wednesday,” O’Hara said. “And then you never know what’s going to happen with senate. It could be two weeks (before service started).

One bus will take students to locations only on campus while the other will make some campus stops and go to locations in town. Bus one travels to Carman, Thomas, Coleman, Buzzard, Pemberton, and Lawson halls; the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union; McAfee Gymnasium; the back of Lantz Gymnasium; and Greek Court from 7:40 a.m. to midnight.

Bus two will bring students to and from the Square; the back of Lantz; Coleman, Carman, Thomas and Taylor halls, the union; Wal-Mart; 7th and Polk; 4th and Grant; 4th and Lincoln; 4th and Polk; Wilb Walkers; and Greek Court .

The new schedule came as a result of a lot of discussion. “More than I’d like to ever again,” O’Hara said.

In determining the new bus schedule, O’Hara said he looked at last year’s schedule, talked to the bus drivers and worked with the administration. He believes the bus route is the best possible route to meet students’ needs because of all the discussion and time spent working on it.

Last spring, H & H Transportation and the university mutually agreed to terminate H & H’s contract to run the bus after the bus company could not continue to provide the service at the bidded price of an average of $55,177 per semester.

Contracted companies usually purchase a performance bond from a surety company, so if the contracted company cannot complete its contract, the surety company is required to finish the contract. However, last year, H & H Transportation never obtained a performance bond.

At the end of the last semester, the senate passed a resolution to recommend a three-year contract with H & H to run two buses. And this time around, it has received a performance bond, so the same problem that occurred last semester will not repeat itself, O’Hara said.

Under the first contract, $5.60 of students’ fees went toward having the shuttle bus service a semester. With the new contract came an added fee of $5.30, for a total of a $10.90 fee a semester.

O’Hara said now that the university has a schedule set that will be around for a while, he thinks ridership will increase.

“It was never reliable before. The schedule was changing every two weeks,” he said.

Past shuttle bus schedules are posted on signs throughout campus. O’Hara said the new signs will be put up with the new schedule in the future.

Also, in the past, an idea to have the shuttle bus take students to Show Place 8 and the Amtrak station in Mattoon was brought up. O’Hara said students have not gone to the Amtrak, and since it is a longer trip, they are not going to incorporate the stop.

Those working on the shuttle bus schedule have looked into trying to fit Show Place 8 into the bus route; however, it is not included in this new schedule.

“It’s just hard to figure out times that are convenient, so students aren’t waiting around for a half an hour, 45 minutes before or after a movie,” O’Hara said.