The traffic congestion caused by new Huskie Bus routes is grinding the gears of cyclists and stopping pedestrians in their tracks.

In the spring, students, faculty and campus leaders met in the Holmes Student Center to collaborate on the Master Plan Thesis. They shared ideas on enhancing campus experiences for current students.

The intention was to make life for students easier, but not everyone is on board with the changes to the bus system. Some students are confused by new bus routes, the move of the turnaround to Normal Road and are inconvenienced by the lack of an update to the Huskie Bus Tracker.

The new bus system “is confusing to navigate,” said junior psychology major Laura Kruczinski. “The NIU app isn’t updated either.”

Brett Williams, Student Association director of Mass Transit, said the Huskie Bus Tracker app students use to track buses in real time won’t be updated for several more weeks.

A possible solution for improving student transportation involves introducing electronic tram vehicles called Huskie Pups that shuttle students across campus, lessening travel time. These buses would be restricted within the confines of the campus, whereas the current buses shuttle students around DeKalb.

Williams could not say when students can expect to see the Huskie Pups up and running.

“A lot of what I did over the summer is get the routes ready …,” Williams said. “I spent a lot of time mulling over how we’re going to turn around the buses. [There was] a lot of beta testing that went into that. We even had completely different routes. [We] just scrapped everything [and] realized that’s not the way to go.”

What do we do as we wait for these Huskie Pups? For starters, look both ways when crossing the street near the new bus turnaround on Normal Road, especially since there is a lot of traffic driving toward Lincoln Highway.

It’s imperative students feel satisfied so they don’t feel shortened.

“I’m a student, too,” Williams said. “I feel everybody’s pain. The bus system is not perfect … . What [we] can do is the best we can with the resources we have. Unless we had a bus per student, even that would cause congestion.”