Students aren't the only ones making changes with the new semester.
Tiger Transit services has signed a new contract with First Transit to begin at the start of fall semester.
"I don't think the changing of the company is going to affect the performance of the service we provide for the students," said Clarence Cobb, general manager of First Transit.
A new company also means brand new Tiger Transit buses for the University. The new, 70-bus fleet will include 12 hybrid vehicles and provide services for approximately 22,000 students at the beginning of the semester.
"The system is utilized and the number of passengers goes up a little every year," said Rex Huffman, manager for transit services and an Auburn University alumnus.
"I wish it had been here when I was a student."
Sixty previous drivers out of the 121 current drivers were rehired and went through training to be ready for the first day of class.
"The training is very intense and if (the drivers) don't pass the training then we don't hire them," Cobb said.
Along with waking up every morning to a brand-new-bus smell, some students will be affected by route changes as well.
The Opelika Road route will now only include stops at Creekside of Auburn and Aspen Heights, which will cut the 24-minute travel time, Huffman said.
The Opelika Road route has been significantly changed because of the creation of the new North College Line, which includes services to Copper Beech, the medical and dental offices along the Dean Road corridor and the mall.
Huffman said many students use the mall stop as a park and ride stop.
"We don't have as many people utilize it as we wish we did, but people still utilize it," Huffman said.
Students who live on Cox Road in Windover Farms and Swann Two trailer parks will now have the option to ride the Wire Road transit line. A bus will run every hour.
"We're able to now allow access to part of the student body that has never had access before," Huffman said.
Tiger Transit stops at AU Impound Lot, Nichols Center, Kingsport Apartments and Hearthstone will be suspended starting fall 2013.
Along with daytime hour bus stops, Toomer's Ten will also experience changes
this fall.
Operations for night transit will be reduced to Friday and Saturday nights only, beginning in October.
"Because of our resource constraint, we will be eliminating Wednesday and
Thursday nights after September because there are a lot of people out [downtown] those first couple of weeks," Huffman said.
Three other stops will also be suspended because of underutilization.
Funding for Tiger Transit comes from student tuition.
"I tweak the system every year," Huffman said. "I would hope people would tell (us) that the whole time (they) are here riding the transit you could see continuous changes being made to the system."
In regards to former Tiger Transit company Groome Transportation failing to meet some of the driver's demands in fall 2012, Huffman said the switch of companies was because the Groome Transportation contract ended this year.
"We're moving forward and we're pretty excited about what the new company will bring to the table," Huffman said.
Cobb said safety is an important factor for Tiger Transit.
"My goal is to make sure that everybody is 100 percent safe, which includes the drivers and all of our students that we pick up each and every day," Cobb said.
"We're teaching the drivers how to be alert and watch out for things that cause accidents."
Huffman said that students chose Auburn because of the transit system.
"We want to be a world-class transit system for Auburn University," Huffman said. "I love what we're doing and I think we provide a great service."
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