During snowfall and the start of spring semester, getting the essentials for dorm life can be tricky if you’re without a car in Owings Mills.

For the past two weeks however, students have been getting their fill of shampoo and printer paper via a new shuttle service from Stevenson University to Walmart and Target. The trial run has been operating from the Ratcliffe Community Center for the last two weeks, said Jessica Swing, president of the Student Government Association (SGA).

“(More options have) always been a desire of the students," Swing said. "The SGA decided to take initiative, do the research, and start a three-week trial period."

The project is being paid for with SGA dollars, though if the endeavor proves successful, Stevenson administration will allot it into the campus budget, Swing said. The shopping shuttle schedule's current cost is $75 for five hours, plus diesel, she added.

The test shuttle schedules ran this Saturday, Jan. 29 and Jan. 22, and will continue from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. next Saturday, Feb. 5 at the Ratcliffe Community Center. The shuttle stops at Walmart first, then Target.

Fifty riders used it the first weekend, and 48 the second, according to Swing.

The schedule originally called for a shuttle every hour on the hour, but by 3 p.m. on the first day, rides were in high demand. Another driver happened to be available, so they increased it to every half-hour, Swing said.

The shuttle was a relief for Olvans Faustin, a junior at Stevenson, who said she normally takes the MTA bus to either Walmart or Target, which usually entails a walk from campus to the Safeway to catch the No. 56 bus. She has taken advantage of shuttles both weekends.

“It was good especially with the snow. Going to Target is cheaper than buying things at Jazzman’s (the campus convenience store),” she added.

Organized by the SGA, a survey found that students wanted a ride to shopping destinations. Places like Owings Mills Mall didn't top the list, while other, farther stops did, such as Towson Mall and downtown Baltimore.

Suite mates Yoselin Giron and Yazmyn Crew were on the 2 p.m. shuttle Saturday to Target, ready to grab affordable necessities like toilet paper and toothpaste.

“This is actually our second trip of the day,” Giron said. They came prepared with bag packs to transport their purchases back to campus. They said their first ride was dedicated to harder-to-carry purchases like packages of water and soda.

Giron, Crew and Faustin are looking forward to having the shuttles become a more permanent part of their weekends on campus — and hoping it will lead to more expansion. Nearby schools Goucher, Towson, Loyola, College of Notre Dame, MICA and Johns Hopkins are all part of the “Baltimore Collegetown” shuttle system that takes students downtown.

“If we’re moving up as a university, we need to be doing 'university' things for students like other nearby schools are,” Faustin said.