A shuttle roller coaster is built along a line instead of a circuit; its trains generally head out, come to the end of the line, reverse course, and return to the starting point. The boarding station is often in the middle of the track, so that the train may shuttle in two directions over the course of a ride. Typically the end of a line is at the high point of a slope, so that the train rises up and falls back. Features like loops and barrel rolls are often situated in the middle of the course.

The train uses the line in both directions instead of completing a continuous one-way circuit. A station partway along the line can serve a ride extending to either side.

Loops and rolls do not turn that back-and-forth route into a circuit roller coaster. The distinction concerns the journey along the track rather than those individual track features.