Southeast Missouri State University commuter student Jennifer Hawkins regularly hitches a ride on the shuttle bus.

"I love the shuttle," she said Thursday while traveling across campus on one of the university's buses.

It is a feeling shared by other students who regularly use the shuttle buses to get from perimeter parking lots to the interior of campus.

Tammy Rodenberry lives in an apartment near the school's Washington Street parking lot and shuttle stop. She regularly catches the bus rather than walk to class.

"I wouldn't drive my car up here for any amount of money," said Rodenberry.

Parking can be a problem on campus where most students have to park in perimeter lots, far from academic buildings.

Rodenberry said she avoids that problem and saves money too. She doesn't have to pay for a campus parking permit.

Since its inception in 1994, ridership has grown on the Southeast Shuttle Service. In the fall 1994 semester, the shuttle service transported 45,724 riders. That number climbed to 73,260 in fall 1995. It has since leveled off.

Last fall the shuttle buses carried 64,538 riders. That figure doesn't include ridership on the university's shuttle bus that transports employees from campus parking areas to work and back again.

Last semester the employee shuttle hauled 12,410 riders.

Doug Richards oversees the shuttle service as director of Southeast's Department of Public Safety. He said the shuttle buses haul between 4,000 and 4,200 students a week, on average.

Richards said ridership has dropped slightly from the 1995 level because of the opening of the Dempster Hall parking lot.

Most of the students hitch a ride from the perimeter parking lots or the Towers residence hall complex.

While the shuttle service is geared for students, anyone can ride the buses free of charge.

Ridership goes up when it is rainy or cold, Richards said. Many students would prefer to walk when the weather is nice, said Student Government President Jason Lane.

Still, some students would rather ride than walk, even in good weather.

Fourteen students rode a shuttle bus during a span of one hour Thursday in the middle of the day. All were women.

Student Rebecca Gotham said men are less likely to ride. "They don't think it is manly to ride the shuttle," said Gotham.

Several students on the bus Thursday said they would rather ride than walk across the hilly campus.

The shuttle buses are vital for students in wheelchairs or others who are physically handicapped, said Beth Glaus, the university's parking and transit manager.

Excluding the employee bus, the shuttle service runs four buses during the day, beginning at 7:30 and ending about 4:30 p.m. It keeps another bus in reserve.

Three of the buses travel a six-stop route, stopping at each stop twice each hour Mondays through Fridays.

Another bus travels the express route between Kent Library-Academic Hall and the parking lot near the Student Recreation Center. That route includes a stop near the Scully Building. The bus makes four stops at each of the three sites in an hour.

One of the buses also runs a night route from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The shuttle buses combined travel about 6,000 miles a month. The shuttle service doesn't operate during the summer.

Southeast spends $140,000 to $150,000 a year to operate the shuttle service. Federal money will pay more than $26,000 of that cost this year.

The largest share of the operating budget is the $115,000 a year that the university pays to Kelley Transportation. The Cape Girardeau company provides drivers and handles the light maintenance on the buses.

The university owns six shuttle buses. Five are 14-passenger buses. A smaller bus is used to shuttle university employees.

Richards and other university officials believe ridership would grow even more if a transit way is built. It would be a one-lane path with sidewalks, would wind through the interior of the campus and be restricted to shuttle buses and pedestrians. The current shuttle service routes run primarily around the edge of campus.

The shuttle buses sometimes get delayed in traffic along Henderson and Sprigg streets. Still, students seldom have to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus, officials said.

The transit way and a multilevel parking garage would cost an estimated $7.9 million. Most of that cost is for the parking garage. The transit way would cost about $400,000.

Half of that cost would be for development of a bus-stop, plaza area in front of the Serena Building behind Academic Hall. The area currently is a traffic bottleneck. A water tower next to the Art Building would be torn down and a road constructed as part of the transit way.

The $7.5 million parking garage would be situated along New Madrid in an area where there is surface parking for about 800 vehicles. The garage would have parking space for about 1,800 vehicles.

Construction of the transit way and parking garage hinges on securing federal funds, which would pay most of the cost. The federal share would amount to $6.3 million, and the university would provide the other $1.6 million.

Southeast hopes to start construction in June 1999. The work could be completed by August of the next year.

Southeast already has a huge investment in its transit system. In the past two years the university constructed a $1.36 million storage and maintenance building adjacent to the school's Washington Street parking lot. Federal funds paid 80 percent of the cost.