University students board a Shuttle-UM bus.

Welcome to DBK + Context, our news analysis and explanatory reporting blog. Recent posts include “University System of Maryland is short on money — but the chancellor isn’t” and how much other Big Ten students pay for parking.

As students return to school at the University of Maryland, many will be walking onto the campus for the first time.

Yet this year, freshmen won’t be the only students confused about navigating the campus. The Department of Transportation Services announced on Twitter that many of its bus routes are changing, so everyone will have to learn (or re-learn) how to get to their favorite places on and off the campus.

Here are a few quick directions via these new routes, which start Saturday: 

How to get from Denton/Ellicott Community to Route 1: Take the Orange bus from Elkton Hall and get off at Montgomery Hall.

From South Campus Commons to Eppley Recreation Center: Take the Green bus from either South Campus Commons 3 and 4 — or 5 and 6 — and get off at LaPlata Hall.

From Memorial Chapel to Stamp Student Union: Take the Blue, Gold, Orange or Purple buses from the Chapel stop and get off at Stamp.

From The Varsity to the North Campus Dining Hall: Take the Blue bus from Route 1 at The Varsity and transfer to the Orange or Green buses at Stamp. Then get off at either Hagerstown or LaPlata halls.  

From Cambridge Community to McKeldin Mall: Either take the Orange bus and transfer to Green at Regents Drive, or just take the Green bus directly to Stamp. The Mall is through the pathway next to Jimenez Hall.

Here are some of the other changes:

According to a DOTS representative, Fraternity Row no longer has daytime or evening service.

The 116 Purple, 117 Blue, 118 Gold and 122 Green routes will now begin running at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays — which is seven and a half hours earlier than they started on the weekends last year.

The Green, Orange and Purple buses will remain the same. The campus shuttle changes are to the Blue and Gold buses, as well as the 105 Courtyards route, which will now service a stop on Campus Drive and additional stops along Paint Branch Drive. The 131 MGM/Enclave route is also changing to reduce travel time between Stamp and Montgomery Hall. 

Commuter route 111 Silver Spring, will service the Silver Spring Transit Center when it opens in September. The 129 Franklin Park at Greenbelt Station and 130 Greenbelt Route buses, which are no longer running.

One drastic example of how the routes have changed lies with the Blue shuttle route. After a 21% drop in ridership last year due to previous changes, it has already been updated twice since last fall. It previously looped behind Knox Road. Now, the Montgomery Hall stop has been added back, but the Blue route does not include Commons 5 and 6 as it used to.

Don’t despair, though, because the Green and Gold routes still cover the Commons.

The new routes:

DOTS has added routes to new locations, announcing on Facebook that there will be a shuttle bus going to IKEA. On Saturdays the new 137 IKEA route will run between campus, IKEA and Beltway Plaza Mall. This route replaces the 133 Mall at Prince George’s route that ran on Saturdays last year.

Also, new to the fleet is bus route 138, which goes to Greenbelt, and 139, which goes to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Both are to replace the 129 and 130 routes that have been removed. 140 is the last addition and goes to the Carey School of Law at University of Maryland Baltimore on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

This information can be found in the Fall 15 Campus Connections Guide. 

Changing some of the routes for the fall is a drastic change as Shuttle-UM sees over 3 million rides a year. However, this isn’t the first time the routes have been altered. Last year they changed to accommodate the construction of the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center, which closed part of Campus Drive (and remains closed).