A specially-equipped van for handicapped Harvard students is in operation this semester as a supplement to regular shuttle service, Dorothy Moser, a staff assistant in President Bok's office, said yesterday.

The decision to equip the present shuttle buses with lifts to assist the handicapped stemmed from a proposal last spring by the University's Working Committee for the Handicapped, and the student organization Advocating a Better Learning Experience (ABLE).

The University complied with the Federal Rehabilitation Act last spring, purchasing the $8900 Volkswagon Microbus that will provide the necessary on-call, door-to-door service for handicapped students.

Funding for the van has come from the general budget of the University, with each of the Faculties contributing a designated percentage, Moser said.

"It's had a tough introduction with all this snow," Marc Fielder, president of ABLE, said yesterday. "But this only points up the necessity of such service," he added.

The van is also available, on the same call-in basis, to students who are temporarily handicapped and unable to use the regular bus service, at 495-5280, Fielder said.