Three $18,500 Huskie Pups are expected to roll into campus in the coming weeks after the university’s first 11-passenger shuttle was debuted Friday.

The first Pup will ideally run 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, said Belinda Roller, an Architectural and Engineering Services architect who worked on the project. The Pup runs a route on the sidewalks from the Recreation Center to the Martin Luther King Jr. Commons. Roller said the estimated cost of the Pup is about $40,000.

Freshman accounting major Joe Sansone said the Pup sounds like a good idea. Sansone normally rides the Freedom Mobile, a bus NIU provides for students with disabilities. Sansone said he thought it was a positive decision to add transportation alternatives.

“I live in Stevenson and my furthest class is in Barsema,” Sansone said. “For the first week [of class], we didn’t have the Freedom Mobile and it was a pretty far walk. You have to make time if you want to take the bus. If you’re waiting for the bus and it’s not there, you just have to walk.”

Roller said although NIU is still at the stage of making students aware of the pups, the reaction from students so far has been excitement. Three more Pups arriving next week cost $55,390, or $18,500 apiece. As the Pup was purchased by the university, students will incur no additional tuition costs for the new vehicle, said Brett Williams, Student Association director of Mass Transit.

The 11-passenger shuttle purchased by the university is, “similar to one you’d find in an airport or theme park,” Williams said. It’s an enclosed vehicle with doors and windows, as well as a solar panel on the roof. Students, staff and faculty can wave down the Pup and get on anytime they see one, and can also hop off at any point along the route. Students don’t need to show a OneCard to ride.

The new Pups ones don’t have doors, but have fold-down flaps for inclement weather.

“The Pups will continue to run as long as they can into the winter to see how they work out,” Roller said. “But, they won’t be available during extreme temperatures or weather.”

Williams said the Pup is a part of NIU President Doug Baker’s 10-minute campus, which seeks to allow travelers to get across campus in 10 minutes.

“…You can get from one end of campus to the other in a shorter amount of time. Right now if you do it hiking, not only are you going to show up huffing and puffing and sweating, but you’re probably going to show up a good 20 minutes late,” Williams said. “It’s part of that ideal that students can take their bike, the Huskie Pups, the Huskie Buses, walk… . It helps to provide different options to the students.”

No suggested changes to the Pups have been made thus far, Roller said, but she said concerns will be addressed as they arise.

“I think students are excited about it, but I don’t think they really know how the Pups work. This new concept of, ‘I can get on at any time, I can get off at any time,’ this is different, it’s new,” Williams said. “I’m excited about it. I think the student body, once they really understand what it is and how it operates, they’re going to be right on board with it, as well.”