The Department of Public Safety and Parking Services have rebranded the university’s shuttle services and reassessed their response to parking violations.
Part of the rebrand was renaming the SHUFLY and Safe Ride. The SHUFLY is now called the Seton Hall Shuttle, and the Safe Ride is now called the SHU Ride.
At the end of the 2023-24 school year, Marisol Rivera, the Parking Services manager, reached out to SGA to partner with them and come up with a new design that students could vote on for the shuttle vehicles. Sergio Oliva, the associate vice president/director of Public Safety, said that this is an effort to “liven things up.”
“We got the student community involved because the service is for the community,” Oliva said.
Oliva said that out of 528 participating, 423 students voted for the blue design. It was the clear favorite, according to him, and they are in the process of wrapping all the vehicles with it.
The occasion will be marked by an event for the campus community soon, Oliva added.
“We plan to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for everyone, where we will display the new, distinctive look of our rebranded vehicles,” Oliva said. “We hope to do this by the end of the semester as part of our holiday celebrations. We’ll reach out to SGA to partner with us once all the vehicles can be displayed.”
The university also unveiled a new transportation app, TripShot, at the end of 2023, which is designed specifically for the Seton Hall Shuttle fixed-route service and to make on-demand requests for the SHU Ride.
Oliva said he wants people to familiarize themselves with the transportation services SHU has to offer.
“With a new app [TripShot], and new designs, we wanted to change the name to something that has more Seton Hall pride,” Oliva said. “We wanted to distinguish ourselves from the other white vans on campus and bring some Pirate pride at the same time.”
Despite all these improvements, some students have had negative experiences with campus transportation services.
Stephanie Garcia, a senior psychology major, said that the Seton Hall Shuttle usually does not arrive on time.
“Since it would arrive late, I would arrive to class late, and it was starting to affect my attendance,” Garcia said. “Also, sometimes the drivers do not wait at the stop. They will stay there for one second and drive off.”
Garcia added that the app sometimes “wouldn’t load, or it froze and wouldn’t show where the shuttle [was].”
Jakob Malin, a senior communication major, also said he has experienced problems when trying to use TripShot to track the shuttle.
“The on-demand feature makes the SHU Ride easier to use than the shuttle because all communication is live,” Malin said. “But sometimes the [shuttle] driver’s location would not update.”
However, before TripShot, Rivera said that students had to use two separate apps. One app to request the SHUFLY, and a different app to request the Safe Ride. Now, TripShot includes both Seton Hall Shuttle and SHU Ride services.
Rivera also said that TripShot allows her to communicate with students quickly.
“I can notify anyone who uses the app, on-demand or fixed route, that there is construction if we are closing, if we cannot pick up any more,” Rivera said. “All our communication is live. Not only that, but you can track it in real time.”
Additionally, as part of the rebrand, Parking Services will be implementing a new immobilization device called the Barnacle. Oliva said that the Barnacle blocks any visibility from the windshield.
“It uses suction cups so that it does not damage the windshield,” Oliva said. “It is self-powered—you basically place one end closest to the driver and then flip the other end, and then we activate it either by the keypad or a key.”
The Barnacle is used by the NYPD, according to NBC 4 New York, and other universities like Rutgers and Rochester Institute of Technology. Oliva said that the purpose of using the Barnacle is to enforce compliance with the university’s rules and regulations.
“Not everybody who is a commuter wants to purchase a parking permit,” Oliva said. “People think they can park on campus without purchasing a permit. Our policy is that if we identify a vehicle that does not have a parking permit, we issue a summons.”
Oliva added that the parking permit is $400 and that each citation is $50. If a vehicle has $200 in citations and the student has not contacted Parking Services, then the immobilization device will be used, according to Oliva.
To have the Barnacle removed, students must contact Parking Services and purchase a permit.
Oliva said that in the past, SHU used an immobilization device called a wheel lock, but that it became inefficient because people were stealing them either by breaking them off or not returning them.
The Barnacle has a built-in alarm system that will sound if someone tries to take it off their windshield, according to Rivera, making it difficult for the person to drive away. She emphasized that everyone must follow these regulations of having a parking permit.
“A lot of people think we only charge students,” Rivera said. “But everyone pays for a parking permit, even staff and faculty.”
This response to parking violations is just one factor in engaging in “best practices” to aid Public Safety and Parking Services in their “commitment to students.”
“Our main motivation for this announcement is awareness,” Oliva said. “We urge students to let us know as soon as possible if they have unexpected issues with transportation or parking.”
Andrew Palma is a writer for The Setonian’s News section. He can be reached at andrew.palma@student.shu.edu.
