TCU’s shuttle service is adding a new dynamic to improve timeliness and reliability of students.

Starting Oct. 1, students will be able to use their phones to track where shuttles are on the TCU map.

“The motto is going to be a ride every seven minutes,” Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Safety Adrian Andrews said.

Students will be able to track the shuttles using the FrogShield app, which will also show when the shuttles will arrive at its respective pick-up location.

“When you’re standing at the bus station, at one of our nine stops we currently have now, if you just watched one takeoff, you can look at your watch and there will be a ride in seven minutes,” Andrews said.

Last summer, TCU switched to Groome transportation, an 80-year-old transportation company. Groome has worked with TCU to create a set of health and safety guidelines to ensure that the riders and drivers are as safe as possible.

“Our whole goal here is safety is number one,” Andrews said. “The students learn more and professors teach better when we all feel safe.”

The guidelines include reducing the number of passengers to a maximum of nine people, drivers and passengers wearing masks, and drivers and passengers maintaining a minimum of six feet apart. Drivers also have to wear gloves and get temperature checks every morning.

Another safety measure that is applied to the shuttles is the electrostatic sprayer that cleans the bus effectively.

“It is something we feel we need to do to keep people safe,” Andrews said.

Every night, the spray sanitizes every surface of the bus. The spray goes into spots people can’t reach and cleans 99.999% of all bacteria and viruses, including coronaviruses, according to the Groome transportation website.

Normally, there would be 14 buses in service, but due to COVID-19, there are only four buses currently available. The buses run daily Monday-Friday from 6 a.m to 6 p.m.