Huskie buses stop making regular rounds at midnight, before running the weekend schedule until 2 a.m.

For some people walking alone around campus after that time, this is a major concern.

“I don’t feel safe walking by myself at night,” said Shalayla Simmons, a junior theatre studies major. “If I was stuck somewhere on campus, I would have to walk.”

Some students wish the buses would run longer.

“It would make me feel better if I could hop on a bus to get home late at night,” said Heidi Cook, a freshman journalism major.

According to Don McBride, a 25-year bus driver for NIU, “The buses used to run until four in the morning, but since no one rode them, the SA cut back the times from 4 to 2 a.m.”

It costs $25 an hour to run one Huskie bus, said Maurice Montgomery, Student Association Transit Board director. She said the price compared to the number of students who ride the bus at night is not enough of a reason for the SA to make the buses run later or run all night.

“If it needs to be done, we will get it done,” Montgomery said in regards to getting the buses to run later in the evening. “But there have to be some people that are going to ride the buses in order for us to make them run later.”

Ridership at night is down so much that it is not cost-effective to run any buses; therefore, the SA does not run any.

“It’s not really worth it to have a bus run all the time,” said bus driver Cedric Murray, a senior business management major. “I might have 12 riders from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.”

Buses do not run after 2 a.m. because Founders Memorial Library closes then.

However, there’s an alternative to the buses and walking by one self.

University Police and the SA department of mass transit offer a late-night ride and weekend service that will and pick up any student and take them to a desired destination.

The service is run by student workers operating university vehicles. To get a ride from the Late Night Ride Service, call 753-2222.