Shuttle–UM

1970s–2000s

Shuttle–UM was established in November 1972 by the University of Maryland, College Park's (UMD) Black Student Union as an initiative to promote security for students walking through campus during the evening hours. Operations began with the use of two vans to circulate campus, which were purchased by Student Government Association (SGA), the campus' student governing body, through approval by the Office of Commuter Student Affairs, a campus organization supporting students commuters. The operations were run in the basement of a residence hall on campus and consisted of running the vans on two fixed routes. By Spring 1973, the Residence Hall Association, the governing body for the campus' dormitory halls, donated an additional van which led to three fixed routes running through campus in the evening. By the end of the system's first year of service, 65,000 had been transported. The following year saw the addition of daytime routes to operations to parking lots and the establishment of Call-A-Ride, which was the original first curb-to-curb service for the transit system. In 1975, four Mercedes-Benz vans were purchased to expand the fleet to six vehicles. This same year, the name Shuttle-UM was established, three years after being a service provided by SGA, Shuttle–UM was now an independent entity for UMD. Upon the transit system's independence, Charter service was added to its operations in 1975; the following year saw expansion to the curb-to-curb service with Disability Transit Service for eligible individuals; off-campus routes were established in 1976.^{[original research?]}

During late 1978, Shuttle–UM's first facility was built on an off-campus parking lot on Greenhouse Road adjacent to Baltimore Avenue. The new facility was known as UMD Building 013 and featured expanded maintenance facilities. Upon 1979, the project that started as a security service expanded to a transit system consisting of 10 routes with over 20 vehicles. Through 1985 and 1988, the Greenhouse facility was expanded to accommodate growing operations with new administrative offices and maintenance facilities. Shuttle–UM's expansion in 1985 also composed of ridership growing to just over 1 million passengers annually and employing 125 student employees that took various positions within the department. By 1986, Shuttle–UM became a member of the American Public Transportation Association and the Transit Association of Maryland. Between 1999 and 2001, facilities were expanded to accommodate an expanding fleet spurred by growing ridership; the administrative offices also underwent a further expansion in 2001 due to said growth.

Early 2010s

Annual ridership reached 3 million for the first time during the 2011–2012 academic year. In 2012, the construction of a brand new facility was completed on Paint Branch Drive adjacent to the XFINITY Center, which fit into DOTS' mission and goal to become sustainable. The Paint Branch facility features sustainable design elements including a green roof and geothermal climate control. Its construction allowed for the consolidation of various facilities previously spread across multiple locations. In August 2012, operations extended to the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), and featured three routes designed to support campus mobility. These routes, which required a valid university ID, were operated and maintained by the main campus Department of Transportation Services in Baltimore, with primary fleet support based at the Paint Branch facility.