Shuttle plans and hotel reservations for Father Hesburgh's memorial service

Over the next two days hotels are expecting to be booked and ground transportation is being planned for Father Theodore Hesburgh's memorial service.

Shuttle buses are being prepped at Royal Excursion. They were contracted by Cardinal Buses to provide extra transportation that is needed for all those celebrating the legacy of Father Hesburgh.

“Airport transfers from South Bend, from Atlantic Aviation, and also commercial side. So we are looking at a bus every 30 minutes leaving the airport and going to Notre Dame. We do have three of the coaches each day are doing parking lot shuttles at Notre Dame,” says Phil Grady, the Vice President of Sales and Operations at Royal Excursion.

Cardinal Buses say they have contracted nine buses from Royal Excursion and will have about 21 buses running Tuesday and 29 on Wednesday. Some of these buses will travel down Notre Dame Avenue, dropping off the Hesburgh family and private guests at the Morris Inn.

“The University has asked us to close the hotel for Tuesday and Wednesday over night guest but this allows us to serve the Hesburgh family,” says Joe Kurth, General Manger at the Morris Inn.

Kurth says the Morris Inn halls that are currently empty, will be full over the next two days and he and his staff are preparing.

“With the thousands of people that we expect on campus we certainly have staffed up. The hotel has 150 guest rooms here and we expect several hundred more than that if you count the dinning guests,” says Kurth.

The hotel is completely booked with guests who will be celebrating the life of a man who Kurth says was always provided a patient and listening ear.

“Whenever you spoke to him he was present with you made you think you were the only one there,” says Kurth.

Other hotels in the area say they have seen a slight increase in reservations but not yet to the amount they're expecting. So there's still time to book rooms.

If you are interested in attending the public visitation memorial services there is north shuttle and south between parking lots on campus. More information can be found here.

The shuttles on campus are free and continuously running Tuesday and Wednesday from 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.