After randomization swelled the ranks of a once rare breed-the Quad athlete-Harvard faced a commuter problem. But athletes say the University's recently expanded shuttle system is successfully meeting their needs as they make the early morning trek across the River.

Since September, a shuttle has been arriving at Harvard's northerly Houses weekday mornings by 5:30 a.m. to take athletes from the Quad to the athletic facilities.

Pforzheimer resident and swimmer Gregory C. Walker '01 says he wasn't bothered by being placed in the Quad but that there was "the one drawback-that I Knew I would have to go down to the pool three days a week."

Walker caught the shuttle at about 6 a.m. Friday on its second loop to the Blodgett Pool. He joined a trickle of students clad in warm-up pants and Department of Athletics sweatshirts who walked briskly out of the Quad dining halls towards the shutter or their bikes.

"Jerry Sullivan, who drives the early morning shuttle before beginning his day job at MIT, says two to six athletes regularly ride the shuttle.

White the shuttle made a quiet debut its popularity is increasing.

Naomi O. Szekeres '00 and Alexis N. Todor '00-both Swimmers-say they would not have know about the shuttle service if Szekeres had not stumbled upon the waiting shuttle when she was late one day.

"More and more people are just coming out the door and asking if they can have a ride," Sullivan says. The shuttle's expanded schedule was not announced until last week but has been in place since the beginning of the school year.

"Before our season started our house master drove us," says Todor, a Currier resident. She adds that Currier Master William A. Graham was instrumental in helping the athletes organize to request the increased service.

Last spring the Quad athletes met with administrators to discuss their particular concerns, a meeting that resulted in the shuttle changes.

"I think a lot of it was our House master realizing that we have to be over here so early," Todor says. "They wanted to figure out the whole situation, how many people would take the shuttle."

Graham says student complaints brought the changes and will continue to shape the shuttle service.

"It was hard for students, especially female students, to get in the deep dark of the morning hours to practice across the river," Graham says. In addition to giving the swimmers a ride on his way to work out, Graham says he occasionally lent his car to teams that needed transportation to the athletic facilities at inconvenient times.

While ride from Graham helped some students, most relied on taxi vouchers distributed by the athletic department. But the athletes say they prefer the shuttle to the voucher system.

Taxis often came late or not at all, Todor says. She adds that a cab driver once yelled at some swimmers who had walked to the Sheraton Commander for a shuttle. He had been waiting for Lucrative airport passengers and did not want to make the quick trip to the athletic facilities.

"[The cabs] were hard to coordinate," says Heather Brome '00, who rows crew, adding that the vouchers were not given to athletes out of season.

And one early rider says there were also rumors of athletes selling the vouchers rather than using them to travel across the River.

Sullivan says athletes are not the only ones taking advantage of expanded service. After 7:30, most of the traffic is non-athletes who need a ride.

"It's amazing how many people are up this early coming back from studying," he says. "If you put the shuttle service available for everyone, the student body in general, they would take advantage of it."

Sullivan says he is surprised that students in other houses have not demanded the early service.

"From the number of people I see awake I dothink it would be a good idea," Sullivan says.

He too is an early riser. "Believe it or not, Idon't mind waking up early. I've found that if youdon't have to wait in line you get moreaccomplished," he says.

There were no lines at 6 a.m. on Friday asthere are for the popular late-morning shuttles,but the few athletes taking it said they were gladfor the warmth and speed. The walk form the Quadto the athletic facilities can take as long as 25minutes.

But the system in not perfect yet. Bromepointed out that since the early-morning shuttleruns on an irregular, as-needed basis, studentsstart walking if they do not fund a shuttlewaiting because they do not know when the next onewill come