The Graduate Student Council (GSC) grocery shuttle to the Allston Star Market has resumed its Tuesday night runs after a summer hiatus. The shuttle service will also continue its Saturday morning service.
Last year, the first few weeks of the semester enjoyed a high demand as shoppers try to stock up for the semester, but some students had to be turned away. With the Tuesday runs, "We hope to even things out this year," said Geoffrey Coram, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science and co-chair of the GSC's Housing and Community Affairs committee.
The grocery shuttle picks up passengers near all campus graduate and undergraduate residence halls, then proceeds to the Star Market on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston. Students are guaranteed at least an hour to do their shopping, and riders of the earlier shuttles can stay for a later return trip if they need more time to shop. The shuttle (a regular yellow school bus) is paid for by the Star Market Corp.
The schedules for both the Tuesday and Saturday shuttles will be the same as last year. Details can be found on the Web at .
Graduate students make up about 65 percent of the riders each week. Last year, Saturday runs averaged 60 riders per week, and the Tuesday shuttle served another 36 per week.
The grocery shuttle started in spring 1994, but ridership picked up after the Stop&Stop on Memorial Drive closed that summer. During 1994-95, the shuttle brought riders to Laverde's Star Market in Medford. When that store closed in summer 1995, the shuttle switched to the Mt. Auburn Star Market. Starting last fall, the new Tuesday shuttle went to the Allston store, which had then just opened. This summer, the Saturday shuttle also changed over to that store in response to rider requests.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 18, 1996.
