Scratch one letter off the list of buses running at Rutgers U.

Jack Molenaar, director of Transportation Services, made a decision to eliminate the L bus route, beginning Aug. 28, in an attempt to streamline campus bus service.

“If you look at the L route, where it goes, is a relic,” Molenaar said. “You have to look at the whole system historically … and at one time it was the most efficient way to go.”

The L route, laid out prior to the existence of Route 18, was the best possible route, he said.

Now it is one of the “slowest and most underutilized of our bus routes,” Molenaar said, in an e-mail to the University community.

The budget cuts, which largely impacted the decision, put Molenaar in a position where he had to look at the core mission of Transportation Services.

“The core mission is to provide inter-campus transportation to students going to class,” he said. “If we eliminate this route, it helps us with our budget cut, helps us going forward, and allows us to add service to other routes.”

Even though the route has been eliminated a new LXc route will continue service to the southbound Cedar Lane stop till the end of this school year in May, he said.

However, there will no longer be stops at River Road/Harrison Avenue or northbound on Cedar Lane.

The elimination of the L route has allowed for two buses to be added to the LX route, increasing service from eight to five minutes, according to the e-mail. One bus will also be added to the express routes between Cook and Busch and Cook and Livingston.

The University is approaching the end of a 10-year contract with the current bus service provider and is facing an increase of 18 percent, or $1.3 million, to renew the contract for the same service, Molenaar said.

If situations do not improve, the New BrunsQuick Shuttle, which is jointly funded between the University, the city and New Brunswick Parking Authority is next on the chopping block, he said, although, he hopes not to have that discussion.