Getting from the Health Professions Division to the Don Taft University Center doesn’t require a car or a one-hour walk in the hot South Florida sun. Students, faculty, staff and, even, visitors can travel around NSU for free when they ride the Shark Shuttles.
The air-conditioned, mid-sized buses run every 10 minutes and take you everywhere on campus, Publix and the Broward Mall. Last December, the shuttles also transported groups of students to the airport. The service was so successful that Ernest Nastari, site manager at the Shuttle Office, said it may be offered again this year.
Nastari said that the buses transport an average of 4500 people every week. Neal Washington, first-year nursing student, is one of them.
“The school is over 200 acres and if you need to get from [HPD] to the administration building, you can take the shuttle instead of walking or driving your car and save on gas,” said Washington. “Besides, the shuttles are air-conditioned and cool and the drivers are really nice,” he said.
There are four routes. Routes one and two run from 7 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. every day. The Rolling Hills Express Route runs from 6 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. on weekends. The shuttles also take trips to the Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach Monday through Thursday. The shuttles are scheduled to stop running at 12:30 a.m. However, Nastari said that a bus will take a final ride round of the entire campus at 12:30 a.m. in case someone needs a ride.
The Shark Shuttles can be tracked online by logging onto www.nova.edu/nextbus. The Web site shows where the shuttle is and how long it will take to arrive at your bus stop. You can also have alerts sent to your phone letting you know when the bus is getting close to your stop.
Keep in mind that the shuttles don’t operate when a hurricane warning is active or during university holidays. For a list of stops for each route log on to www.nova.edu/locations/maps/shuttle.html.
