During the 2007 football season, Iowa State is offering a free CyRide shuttle from seven different spots on campus to the Iowa State Center on the day of every home football game.

The first run will be Thursday for the home opener against Kent State.

Melissa Gagne, of the Department of Public Safety Parking Division, said the shuttle offers relief from the rising costs off parking in the lots near Jack Trice Stadium and just for overall convenience of the fans.

“It gives the customers that are coming to the game another option and it’s a free option,” Gagne said. ” You won’t have all of that traffic to deal with afterward.”

The shuttle routes were also created because the number of spaces have been cut down by 1,500 spaces due to construction near the College of Veterinary Medicine. Some of the grass and gravel lots may also be unsuitable to park in because of recent rainfalls.

“We want to encourage everyone to come to the game, relax, and enjoy themselves,” said Jerry Stewart, director of the Department of Public Safety, in a press release Tuesday. “Taking the free CyRide shuttle bus is a quick, easy, and hassle-free way to get there. Once people try it, we believe this is going to become a very popular opinion.

“We’ve watched the success of the Iowa State Fair shuttles with great interest, and we think Cyclone fans will appreciate the convenience of free parking and a free shuttle to get to home football games.”

The parking around the stadium will remain the same in the future, but on Thursday night, the commuter lots in between Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium will be reserved for the football games. For those students who normally park at the stadium, their cars have to be moved by midnight Thursday or they will be towed.

Parking is available for the Kent State game in the lots by the Forker Building, but, Gagne said, those lots may be full because some of the student stadium permit holders will be moving their vehicles there.

Students who are in that situation can park their cars without being ticketed in Lots 61A and 61B by the Towers, Lot 100 by Lied Recreation Athletic Center, Lot 29 north of the Communications Building, and at the Southwest Athletic Complex.

Anyone can park in the yellow and red marked lots around Central Campus. For those people, the shuttles will be loading at Stephens Auditorium, Wallace Road, the Metals Development Building, the Communications Building, the College of Design, Friley Hall, and the Memorial Union. The shuttles will run every eight minutes before the game and will drop people off on the west side of Stephens Auditorium. The shuttles will also run every 20 minutes during the game.