The University of Kentucky Transportation Services is providing a holiday shopping shuttle to Fayette Mall, as well as a Ride Home Express program and a shuttle bus to the airport. 

The holiday shopping shuttle and airport shuttle bus are completely free, but do require reservations in advance to make sure that there will be a spot for everyone on the buses.

Ride Home Express is not free, but offers lower fares than other options for getting home for the holidays. Prices can be found online through the university’s transportation services.  

The holiday shopping shuttle will run every Sunday through the end of the semester. There are daily pickups on campus at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Passengers will be picked back up near the entrance to Macy’s at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and returned to campus. 

“I would say the first weekend is the busiest seeing as how it’s before dead week and finals,” Chrissie Balding Tune, UK’s Parking and Transportation Services Marketing and Promotions Specialist senior, said. 

If you are hoping to avoid a crowded bus to the mall, you may want to wait a week before hopping on the holiday shopping shuttle. 

The Ride Home Express bus has routes that head to the Atlanta area, Chicago area and Cleveland area. You can see the complete list of stops on UK’s Parking and Transportation Services’ website. 

This program began in 2010 and has become increasingly more popular over the years. 

“This past Thanksgiving we had 182 students use this service to get home, which has been our highest turnout so far,” Tune said. If you live too far away to take a bus service home for the holidays, you can always use the university’s free shuttle service to the Lexington airport.

There are several pick up times throughout the day to accompany different flights. Online reservations for this service are crucial and must be made at least two business days prior to when you will need a ride.  

The main issue with these services is the limited advertising around campus for them.

“I think I knew about the mall shuttle buses, but I just know they exist, not how to use them or when or where. If I knew how, I would probably take advantage of it,” Jessica Weber, a sophomore at UK, said. 

For more information about these shuttle buses go to UK’s Parking and Transportation Services’ website.