Parking on campus might become easier, but not because of an increase in parking spots.

It will be because of more shuttle services and a possible partnership with city transit.

There’s no more room on campus to build or expand parking lots, said Jennifer Tougas, director of parking services.

It’s also cheaper to expand transit options than to build lots, Tougas said.

It costs about $300,000 to buy and staff a new bus. Constructing a new parking lot can cost more than $1 million.

The parking services department is looking for new ways to get students on and off campus with shuttles because of the inability to build more lots.

The shopping shuttle, or green line, currently takes students to other places in Bowling Green.

Parking services officials approached the city about partnering with GO BG Transit. They planned to have GO BG run the shopping shuttle, said Alonda Massey, transit services general manager.

But the partnership didn’t go through because city buses can carry about half of what Western’s buses carry, and the number of people who use Western’s shuttles has more than doubled in the last year, she said.

Last year, campus shuttles carried about 7,000 students during the first week of school. This year, they carried more than 16,000.

Massey said they are looking for other ways to partner, but there are no plans yet.

Public transit manager Gail Wolgast said there might eventually be a full GO BG route on campus.

The route would pick up students who live in apartments off campus and bring them to several stops on campus.

City officials plan to have the route by 2010, she said.

Other shuttle service expansions include adding two stops to the inner loop, or red line, and making all the red and white outer loop shuttles run every ten minutes, Massey said.

Last year, the shuttles ran at different intervals, rather than the uniform schedule used this semester.

Reach Christina Howerton at news@chherald.com.