While many Harvard students start their mornings negotiating with snooze buttons and jockeying with roommates for use of the shower, the daily routine of Eryn E. Ament '95 begins with a more detailed game-plan.

Ament says she must wake up every morning plotting how she will push and shove her way past swarms of Quadlings and onto the shuttle bus--if she wants to get to class on time.

The overcrowded and often tardy shuttles are enough to ruin anyone's day, she says, especially in the cold and wet winter mornings.

"It's the most miserable way to start your day," says Ament, a Currier resident. "You can be the first one out there waiting for that shuttle, but if you don't rush hard you get jostled and banged and you might not even get in."

The shuttle system that transports members of the Harvard community around campus is no different than most other services provided by the University--from the dining services to dorm crew--as students continually ask for improvement in every service.

They voice complaints with the shuttle system that range from overcrowding at peak hours to a dearth of service at other times.

But Carl A. Tempesta, manager of the shuttle system, says the service has constantly tried to keep up with the changing needs of the Harvard community since it began as an evening security service in 1973.

He says the quality of service has gradually improved, growing to its current fleet of six shuttle buses that drives students across campus from 7:45 a.m. to 1 a.m. on weekdays, and until 2 a.m. on weekends. The buses now provide 450,000 rides per year, he says.

The service also includes three shuttle vans that transport Harvard affilitates who have physical disabilities and are unable to safely use the buses, Tempesta says.

Efforts have been made to improve the service, especially by increasing the number of runs through the heavy traffic routes like the Mather House to Memorial Hall to Currier House circuit, Tempesta says. The graduate schools have not been forgotten either, with special stops at the Law School, Business School and Kennedy School of Government.

Even the most diehard shuttle critics seem appreciative of the recent innovations--including Ament from Currier House.

"The shuttles are like a blessing in disguise that nobody notices," Ament says. "People always gripe when its late, but on a [wet, cold] night like tonight people really are grateful for it."

Those positive comments are often drowned out by the chorus of complaints that continue despite the ongoing shuttle improvements.

Most people on a drizzly and cold Saturday afternoon last month looked grateful to be getting on a bus and avoiding a long walk in the cold rain. But they faulted the system, saying it is plagued by lax drivers, overcrowded buses and a lack of service at certain hours.

"One thing I don't like about the shuttles is that big gap in the afternoon when no shuttles come to Memorial Hall," says Bethany M. Allen '94. "Someone said the administration said that kids just want to go back to their rooms and sleep at that hour, but that's really lame."