New Hawk Express expands shuttle services

In December 2019, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) acquired two new shuttles to replace its previous aging shuttle. A Ford van, capable of accommodating 12 passengers and two wheelchairs, will transport students to and from off-campus locations. A new electric shuttle, able to accommodate nine people and one wheelchair, service from on-campus locations.

“The new shuttle bus, like the previous one, provides a wonderful alternative for those who cannot drive to the university,” said Harry Glass, manager of the university parking and transportation department. “This change has made it possible to add more stops on campus and with more frequent pickups.”

Last year, the shuttle services were suspended numerous times because of breakdowns and needed repairs, leaving students to find other methods of transportation, like Lyft and Uber.

“I had to buy a parking pass because it was too much to deal with the shuttle bus,” said Mars Taylor, sophomore and, office manager and marketing ambassador in the Office of Student Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. “Once I was told to stand in the back of the bus, even though it was full because they did not feel like calling another bus.”

Austin Meredith, computer science major, was also dissatisfied with the old shuttle.

“It seems that they had recurring issues working the wheelchair lift,” Meredith said. “The door had trouble being unlocked, and they tended to forget how to operate the lift. I have been late to a few classes due to them struggling to operate it properly and time efficiently.”

The new shuttle service is called the Hawk Express. The Hawk Express offers five drop off and pickup locations on campus, three on the Pearland campus, and 14 off-campus, as well as sign up for accommodations for grocery trips.

“We are in the process of changing the weekly grocery trip to Saturday instead of Friday, so as to not interrupt regular services,” Glass said.

Parking and Transportation recently sent out emails informing riders that shuttle times are subject to change and all changes will be updated on the UHCL website, the also announced The Hawk Express will add a new grocery trip schedule starting Feb. 8, and that the shuttle service will be stopping at the Patio Café for students who would like to dine for lunch.

Along with the two new shuttles, Parking and Transportation services have introduced the ParkMobile ParkMobile App. The app is designed to help visitors get a parking passes as well as extend their time on existing passes. This app is advertised to be more comfortable for visitors to use and easy to download on the visitor’s smart devices. No smart device, no worries, visitors can still use park mobile. Just call the number provided by the UHCL parking and transportation website to extend the time for parking. The ParkMobile app went live Jan. 21.

“The app is already being used by visitors,” Glass said. “We had 65 transactions on the first day the app went live.”

Students would be able to use the ParkMobile app to purchase a temporary parking pass to park in temporary parking locations. The zones for the ParkMobile app on the UHCL campus are the Visitors’ Lot and Lots D, G and J.

CORRECTION: 2/12/20 – The article originally misspelled the name of the app “ParkMobile.”