By Toma Lynn Smith

With the University of Louisville being a predominately commuter school, parking has been and always will be a challenge.

Adding to that challenge is parking at the Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

This is where students can catch the Black Loop (also known as the 94 Cardinal Shuttle) to get to their classes.

While this service is provided by the Transit Authority of River City, a purple parking permit is required to park at the stadium.

This shuttle circulates around campus with several stops between the stadium, Ekstrom Library and the Student Activities Center.

The 2007-2008 U of L Parking Regulations, effective Aug. 20, 2007, stated, “Depending on your time of arrival, the stadium parking lot may be the best choice for parking and use the shuttle service to campus.”

Timing is everything, and Makayla Wise, a sophomore English major, said, “In the morning it’s really bad.”

“You have to strategically get on the bus.”

Derek Lacoste, a freshman engineering major, agreed. “I kind of have a routine,” he said, for the best times to catch the shuttle.

They both said the library is the best spot to catch the shuttle.

There, the buses are sometimes not as crowded as they are by the time they get to the Student Activities Center, where they seem to get very crowded.

“I guess it’s kind of awkward piling a bunch of people like sardines on the bus,” said Lacoste.

“We recognize we need to provide the best service we can,” said Larry Owsley, U of L Vice President for Business Affairs, regarding the Black Loop.

Last year, the service only had three buses for the Black Loop, with the addition of the Red Express.

However, the Red Express service has been discontinued as of this school year.

Owsley said one reason for the discontinuation is to provide “a more efficient operation system.”

Since the Red Express would head north toward the Taco Bell near Floyd Street, it would often get caught by trains, delaying its travels.

Owsley said, “84 percent of the riders last year were riding the Black Loop.”

This school year the Black Loop buses have increased from three to five in rotation.

The increase is “intended to reduce the crowding on individual buses,” Owsley said.

But, “I feel like something needs to be done, I don’t know what the solution would be,” Wise said regarding how packed the buses can get.

Lacoste said it is not too bad and Owsley said, “From the SGA leadership I spoke with, they felt it was going fairly well.”

With a student population of over 21,000 and the majority of that population not living on campus, long lines and overcrowding are bound to happen in certain areas.

There are other factors to consider as well, when waiting to catch the Black Loop.

TARC stated, as in the case of the Red Express, “Freight trains sometimes disrupt the schedule of TARC buses on the U of L campus.”

Service runs about every five minutes.

It begins from the stadium at 6:40 a.m. and ends, leaving the SAC, at 9:30 p.m. each weekday, except Friday, which ends at 5:30 p.m.

During finals, the times are adjusted and it isn’t available during the summer.