Meaning & use
shuttle bus
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Meaning
nouncountable
A bus that makes short repeated trips between two or a few places, often carrying passengers to and from a larger transport hub or event.
Grammar: Countable: a shuttle bus, two shuttle buses. Often used after 'take', 'catch', or 'by'.
Patterns
- take a shuttle bus
- catch the shuttle bus
- by shuttle bus
- a shuttle bus between something and something
We took the shuttle bus from the airport to the car rental lot.
A free shuttle bus runs between the hotel and the beach every half hour.
The conference organizers arranged a shuttle bus for attendees staying at the nearby hotels.
Word forms
| plural | shuttle buses |
|---|
Common combinations
- take a shuttle bus
- You can take a shuttle bus from the station to the city center.
- catch the shuttle bus
- We need to catch the shuttle bus before it leaves at nine.
- free shuttle bus
- The museum offers a free shuttle bus from the parking area.
- shuttle bus service
- The shuttle bus service stops running after midnight.
- by shuttle bus
- It's easier to get there by shuttle bus than by taxi.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shuttle
- Shuttle is a shorter, often informal way to say the same thing, but it can also mean a spacecraft or a weaving tool; use 'shuttle bus' when you need to be clear about the vehicle.
- coach
- A coach is a comfortable bus for longer journeys between cities; a shuttle bus is for short repeated trips, often around a single area.
Word family
- shuttle noun
- A vehicle or aircraft that travels back and forth between two places.
Commonly confused: shuttle bus or shuttle?
shuttle bus vs shuttle
A shuttle can be any vehicle making short repeated trips, including a plane or a train; a shuttle bus is specifically a bus.
Practice
The hotel provides a ______ bus to the airport every hour.
Choose one answer.
'Shuttle bus' is a fixed compound noun; the first word is always the singular noun 'shuttle', not a verb form. 'Shuttles bus' would mean a bus that shuttles, which is not the intended meaning here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shuttle bus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.