James stands by the bus he drives for the Blue Line outside of the Holiday Inn on the University of Memphis campus. James wishes the bus was not so white because it will make it harder to clean.
The spring semester began with a new app and paint job for The Blue Line, the campus’ bus shuttle.
The new buses rolled out Jan. 29 and feature 14 seats. The new shuttles have a white exterior with blue lettering and an image of the Memphis Tiger logo.
“The university decided to replace the buses for several reasons,†Drew Gilmore, Student Government Association president, said. “The new buses are cheaper to maintain, more eco-friendly and cater to the amount of students who use the buses on a daily basis.â€
James, a bus driver for the university's Blue Line, sits inside the bus getting ready to drive. James said he likes driving for the Blue Line.
In addition to the bus update, the U of M has replaced the previous app used to provide students with bus updates. The university had previously used an app provided by TransLoc, a transit technology system, but it switched to DoubleMap, which enables bus riders to track the exact location of a bus and its arrival time.
The Double Map app includes the main campus Blue Route and the Park Avenue Gray Route. The Blue Route stops 11 times on the main campus and the Gray Route stops 5 times on the main campus and 5 times on Park Avenue. Both routes run from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. DoubleMap can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play store.
James, a Blue Line bus driver who would not share his last name, wished a few details were different, but he feels satisfied overall with the decision to update the buses.
“I wish the lettering was a little darker and there was bigger space inside, but it drives well and I’m glad we made this change,†James said “Overall, I enjoy driving them.â€Â
The Daily Helmsman reached out to Parking and Transportation officials about the switch in app providers and the update to the existing Blue Line buses but did not receive a response.
