The Red and Black Shuttle is a service provided by the San Diego State Police Department which runs from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, except the shuttle is rarely seen by students.

This lack of service and presence for students is what Shawn Brown, Administrative Analyst Specialist for the SDSUPD said he wants to change.

The shuttle makes a loop throughout campus at 13 locations in the fall and spring semesters and comes every 10 to 15 minutes depending on traffic, according to the SDSUPD website.

However, several students have a hard time getting on the shuttle because it never arrives.

Brett Pozza, business junior, said he hardly sees the shuttles.

“They really don’t seem that present around campus, I think that’s the biggest issue,” Pozza said.

Brown said he acknowledges this issue and wants to change all aspects of the shuttle service. 

“This includes a change in route so that it goes through more of campus, a timetable service so you know exactly when a shuttle will be there, and making the vans more identifiable,” Brown said.

He said a big problem with the responsiveness of the shuttle service is understaffing.

There are 22 Community Service Officers currently on Brown’s staff with another eight in the mix. Brown said the constant influx of new workers makes it difficult for him to keep a consistent staff.

“Students are constantly graduating so it gets tricky to keep a staff,” Brown said. “And sometimes you end up hiring a bunch of new people and it’s tough to be able to train them all.”

Brown used to be a CSO himself when he attended the school and said he is very proud of how the program has developed and the work the employees have put in.

“Some of them stay on until one in the morning to do escorts or work for the library shuttle,” said Brown. 

The CSO’s are responsible for the personal escorts service as well as the shuttle service. Working for these two services makes it hard  for them to execute the shuttle service Brown said.

Pozza has waited for the shuttle before and said the shuttle is not useful at SDSU in comparison to his previous school.

“I don’t think it is very useful considering a lot of the dorms are central to campus, and the campus isn’t that big,” Pozza said.

Kyle Paulsen, an assistant to Brown, said he disagrees and believes it could be a good way for students to traverse the school.

“I think that the shuttle service is important because SDSU is a large campus that students have to navigate across,” Paulsen said. “The Red and Black Shuttle offers them a safe mode of transportation across campus.”

Brown said he remains optimistic that the Red and Black shuttle will have positive changes and become useful for students.

“We are working very hard on making it better for the campus,” said Brown. “These changes take time.”