Fresh produce, entertainment and a wide array of lunch options are now just a short bus ride away each Wednesday, thanks to a free new shuttle service from campus to downtown Davis and the farmers market's Picnic in the Park. However, catching a midmorning or afternoon shuttle bus between campus and the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento soon may require some extra planning. As a cost-saving measure, the campus-medical center shuttle service will reduce its 29 daily trips to 14 beginning Monday, Oct. 4. And if you drive east on First Street in Davis, watch out for the new stop sign at the intersection of B Street. Motorists who used to be able to sail through the intersection, if going straight on First Street, now must come to a stop. Marketing strategies and economic factors were behind the shuttle-bus changes. Safety concerns on an increasingly busy First Street prompted the new traffic sign. Reaching out to the lunchtime crowd The Davis Farmers Market has expanded its popular Wednesday Picnic in the Park, which features live music and food vendors, from the spring and summer months to year-round. The fall and winter schedule was changed to 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to make the most of the shrinking daylight hours and to attract lunch-goers from campus and elsewhere to Central Park. In past years, Picnic in the Park, which runs from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. from April to September, was followed in the fall and winter by a scaled-back farmers market from 2 to 6 p.m. "We're trying to make the market more accessible to more people and just have a fun place to have lunch," said market manager Randii MacNear. "We just think it would be a natural." Food booths sell tamales and burritos, Indian food, hot dogs, Chinese food, vegetarian Vietnamese dishes, pizza, fruit smoothies and popcorn, MacNear said. Entertainment next Wednesday will be by the Irish music group Banshee. The free shuttle service is sponsored by the farmer's market, Davis Downtown Business Association, the city of Davis and the UC Davis Campus Events and Visitor Services. The shuttle service begins at 11:30 a.m., making six rounds on a loop down Hutchison Drive through the center of campus, around downtown and back before making its final stop at 1:24 p.m. The bus starts at Parking Lot No. 29 south of Haring Hall and north of the Silo. Other stops are the Art Building, Parking Lot No. 10 at the corner of First and A Streets; the intersection of Second and E streets, Second and G streets and the Farmers Market at the corner of Third and C streets. The shuttle will also pick up riders at Parking Lot No. 54 north of the Health Sciences Complex at 12:10 p.m. and return there at 1:10 p.m. The shuttle will expand service to Research Park and Drew Drive in south Davis beginning Wednesday, Sept. 29. The same electric-powered Fleet Services bus, which carries up to 22 people, was used to shuttle riders between Mrak Hall and downtown Davis until the grant funding for the free lunch-hour service ran out a couple years ago. Medical center cuts trips with few riders In a cost-efficiency move, the campus-medical center shuttle service will eliminate less-traveled runs, mostly midmorning and midafternoon routes. "We've had two or three riders on some of them," said Duane Hicks, administrative coordinator for Parking and Transportation Services at the medical center. Humberto Contreras, transportation supervisor at the medical center, said trips were eliminated with an eye on minimizing disruptions to riders' lives. "We're reducing some [trips] that are not as popular so that the inconvenience will be minimal but the cost saving will be significant," Contreras said. The shuttle service replaced its two buses last winter with new, larger, cleaner-burning buses. The new buses carry 41 people, run on compressed natural gas, and have bike racks with room for two bicycles. The old buses, which seated 28 became too costly to maintain, Contreras said. Under the new schedule starting Oct. 4, buses will make seven trips each way. From the medical center, buses will depart at 6:10 a.m., 7:10 a.m., 8:10 a.m. 11:10 a.m., 3:10 p.m., 4:10 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. From the first campus stop at Haring Hall Lot No. 29, the shuttles will leave at 7:10 a.m., 8:10 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 12:10 p.m. 4:10 p.m., 5:10 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. The buses will continue to pick up and drop off passengers at Lot 54 and Mrak Hall. (For times, see the Transportation and Parking Services Web site at http://www.taps.ucdavis.edu) However, a shuttle bus between the medical center and midtown Sacramento, largely used by commuters who rode regional transit from Folsom and El Dorado, will be discontinued. Hicks said the shuttle used to also serve clinics that have since moved to the medical center. Riders can take other bus and light rail service to the medical center area, he said. Making intersection pedestrian-friendly The new stop sign on First Street went up Aug. 24. Previously, eastbound drivers had to stop only if turning left onto B Street. More and more people are walking and bicycling across the intersection following construction of Aggie Village homes and the neighboring Davis Commons shopping center along First Street, said Pat Fitzsimmons, principal civil engineer for the city's public works department. Fitzsimmons said the new stop sign will "make the intersection more pedestrian friendly."