The City of Palo Alto’s Planning & Transportation Commission is looking to expand the existing Crosstown shuttle route offered by the free Palo Alto shuttle service after a meeting last week.

The extended route, the West Shuttle, will run from the industrial area around East Meadow Drive in south Palo Alto to El Camino Real and ultimately to University Avenue. The West Shuttle will serve to connect downtown Palo Alto with south Palo Alto.

“The West Shuttle would aim to accommodate different sectors, including residents and employees in the mixed-use area around Charleston Road and East Meadow [Drive],” Fehr & Peers firm consultant Steve Crosley said. Earlier this year, the firm was commissioned to study the existing routes and plan new routes.

In July, the shuttle program introduced the East Palo Alto route, which starts at Woodland Avenue and continues to the downtown Caltrain Station.

In addition to the West and East routes, the original Crosstown and Embarcadero routes are still in operation.

The shuttle program, founded in December 1999, aims to reduce excessive traffic, insufficient parking in the city’s commercial areas and provide a free transportation service.

The Planning and Transportation Commission chairman Mark Michael believes that the shuttle should not only provide transportation for students, but should also provide the same for the working class.

“The time of Palo Alto residents is quite valuable,” Michael said. “This is a very prosperous and productive community, and a lot of people are employed very gainfully.”

The new route map can be located here