During the Friday September 7 Student Government Senate meeting, Director of Parking and Transportation Randy Vercauteren presented updates on the Tiger East End Express (TE3) downtown bus route.

The pilot program, which began last January, has been expanded into two separately-funded routes on Saturday afternoon and evening. Both buses are run though the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and are freely available to RIT students with an ID.

The afternoon bus was established to better serve 18- to 20-year—old students. It now incorporates earlier hours so students can visit some of the East End’s malls, restaurants, salons and spas. It begins its run at 12 p.m. on campus and will leave downtown for the last time at 6:16 p.m. The bus has five stops downtown, including the original Pitkin Street and East Avenue stop. It is smaller than the night bus and has enough roomfor 60 people.

The night bus starts at 10:30 p.m. on campus and leaves downtown for the last time at 2:15 a.m. It will service only the original East Avenue stop. This bus will remain the same size and has room for 95 people.

Both of these routes are temporary, and will be used until Saturday, December 15. RIT’s Parking and Transportation Services will then reassess if the routes match up with student preference, and either route may be changed or dropped completely. If there is a greater demand for a certain time on either route, another bus may be added to cover the overflow.