The nearly 50 percent increase in Shuttle-UM ridership has left handfuls of students stranded on weekday mornings as overstuffed buses drive away from the University Courtyard and University View buildings, said Transportation Services Director David Allen.

Though Allen did not know exactly how many students are affected, he said that starting today the department will send two buses to pick up anyone left behind at the two buildings to resolve the issue.

“We can’t have people not getting on the buses,” he said. “That is a problem.”

Students report typically seeing about 10 riders left behind at the stops. Allen said the cause for overcrowding was the inability of some of the department’s new larger buses to fit into the entrance of the two buildings.

Transportation officials are going to see whether the additional buses help solve the problem, Allen said. If overcrowding is not alleviated soon, they may find a more permanent solution by buying a new bus.

Allen said the department expects to get anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 from revenue generated from renting out charter buses. He would use these funds to buy a new bus for University Courtyard, which is experiencing the brunt of the problem.

Though the problem of bus overcrowding on the first few days of school is not a new one to some students, they acknowledged that the growth has only exacerbated the problem. Shuttle riders increased from 6,810 on the first day of classes last year to 10,180 this year, Allen said.

Affected students said the issue arose during the first week of school, though transportation officials first publicly acknowledged the problem yesterday.

Allen said he fears that if students continue to be stranded, they might begin to drive their cars instead of taking the buses.

When left to their own devices, students said they do whatever it takes to get to class. Senior history major Amber Robinson said about eight students stranded at Courtyard recently flagged down a car and piled in to get to the campus.

One of Friday morning’s stranded students was senior philosophy major Erik Utter, who had to walk in the rain from University Courtyard to the campus Friday after a full bus left him stranded.

Aditya Joshi, a junior computer engineering and business double major, said when he was left behind yesterday by an overcrowded bus, he hitched a ride with his roommate to the campus.

“I’m probably going to starting driving to campus,” Joshi said. “I can’t take the risk.”

Contact reporter Kaitlyn Seith at seithdbk@gmail.com.