Several changes to night service and college routes go into effect on January 6th, 2025.
Here are all the changes going into effect on Monday, June 3rd.
West Side Night Service
SMTD night service routes typically perform large, 60-minute loops around a given area of the city. While these loops provide transportation to and from many areas, travel in one direction can be inconvenient in some cases. For some riders, travel in the opposite direction would be preferred but instead they must stay on the bus until the route circles back around to their destination.
Rather than adding another looping route to night service, the existing 903 - West Side Night Service route will be splitting into two new, bi-directional routes.
The New 903 – West Side Night Service via W. Washington
Leaving the transfer center, the new 903 route will head west and take the same outbound path to White Oaks Mall as before. Afterwards, it will head north to return downtown along the same path but in the opposite direction. This enables bi-directional service to the Durkin Drive and West Washington areas.
Currently the route will use the same detours around the ongoing rail construction but will use the Jefferson and Madison underpasses once they are open to traffic.
The New 904 – West Side Night Service via MacArthur
This new route covers the areas previously serviced by Route 903’s inbound segment: South 2nd Street, MacArthur, Wabash, Parkway Pointe, and Westchester. Stop-level ridership data shows that few riders utilized the Route 903 stops on Laurel between MacArthur and 2nd Street, so these stops will be removed. Instead, the 904 will take South Grand from 2nd Street to MacArthur outbound, and from MacArthur to 2nd Street inbound, utilizing stops already serviced by the Route 8 – South Grand / MacArthur daytime route.
Connectivity
Transfers from 903 to 904 and vice versa can be made at stop 1344 on Wabash, south of the mall. This allows certain trips to be made without the need to ride a bus all the way to the downtown transfer center.
For example, you could hop on the 904 outbound at the Town & Country Shopping Center, transfer to the 903 at the Wabash stop (1344) and take it inbound to one of the apartment complexes on Durkin Drive. The reverse is also possible.
Additional Service to Helping Hands
In addition to Route 6 – Clear Lake / Junction Circle, Route 9 – MLK / Cook will add service to the new Helping Hands location off of Shale Street immediately after the County Health stop. Some time checks along Route 9 have been adjusted to account for this stop being added.
Route 16 Time Check Changes
Time checks for the inbound portion of Route 16 – W. Wabash / Junction Circle have been adjusted to help the bus arrive at the Junction Circle transfer point on time more reliably.
(insert 16 schedule here)
Due to some concerns SMTD has with continued unlimited mobile pass abuse amongst certain Fixed Route passenger groups; the 1-day, 7-day, and 31-day unlimited ride passes can no longer be purchased on SMTD's Mobile App. These passes ARE still available in the disposable magnetic form and can be added to your BusTap Card when purchased through the Efare website or a SMTD customer service location.
SMTD is aware this may not be ideal for many, and we apologize for the inconvenience. Fixed Route passengers can still purchase single mobile rides through the SMTD App and we will be publishing a Promo Code tomorrow that will see discounts available at check-out similar to the yellow passes which have been discontinued for some time.
Any unlimited mobile passes previously purchased are not affected by this change and are still available to use. This policy change does not affect Access Paratransit Mobile Accounts. Those passengers should see no changes.
SMTD thanks you for your understanding in advance as we attempt to safeguard the transportation services which are so important to so many.
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Beginning on Monday, August 21st, the first three outbound time checks on Route 8 will be moved up in the schedule to help the route get back downtown on time more reliably.
At 2nd & Vine (stop #949), times will be moved up 2 minutes from :09 and :39 of the hour to :07 and :37 of the hour respectively. Chatham & Montana (stop #971) times will move up 3 minutes from :21 and :51 to :18 and :48. At the North Street stop by Casey’s (stop #1347), times will move up 3 minutes from :30 and :00 to :27 and :57.
The new map and schedule can be viewed below:
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As construction continues throughout the city, we continue to adapt bus routes to account for it. The section of Washington Street between 9th and 11th Streets will be closed for the next 6 months, preventing buses from using it to enter or leave the transfer center. Routes that previously used Washington have been rerouted to use the Adams Street entrance until Washington Street construction is complete.
Click/tap the route heading below to visit its page and view the current map and schedule.
Route 2 - N. 9th / Piper Rd. / Northgate
Inbound time checks from Stonehenge & Sandgate (stop #95) and on have been moved back 4 minutes.
Route 3 - Clear Lake / MTI / Grandview
Another trip to MTI has been added on the 2:00 PM trip for weekdays and Saturdays.
Route 7 - West Washington
Two new stops added on Meadowbrook, just south of Iles to catch the bus just before it gets to - or just after it leaves - YMCA.
New stops on Meadowbrook south of Iles.
All 3 of the inbound morning trips (5:30, 6:00, and 6:30) that normally run on weekdays will now also run on Saturdays.
Route 8 - South Grand / MacArthur
Stop added southbound on Chatham Road just before Vernon.
New Route 8 stop (#2538) at Chatham & Vernon.
Route 10 - South 11th / Stevenson & Route 902 - Southeast Side Night Service
Due to unsafe conditions in the Capital City Shopping Center, Route 10 and 902 buses had been taking Adloff and then cutting through the Glen Aire area back to Stevenson. And now that some concerns have been raised regarding buses in that area, Route 10 and 902 buses will take Adloff up to Villanova Drive to Taylor instead and continue inbound.
Please note: These changes were made at the last minute and will not be published to our real-time information until another schedule database can be prepared, so they will not immediately show up in real-time applications such as our Bus Tracker, Google Maps, and other mobile apps that use our GTFS data.
Inbound path for Routes 10 and 902.
Route 11 - UIS / LLCC
Buses will only enter the UIS “tear drop” area on the outbound trip to LLCC and will no longer pull into it on the inbound portion afterwards. Stop #1059 has been put in at the entrance of the tear drop for riders to catch the bus inbound.
Inbound path of Route 11.
Additionally, the inbound time check at Taylor & Ash has been moved up to :05 and :35 of the hour.
Route 12 - South 6th / Medical
Inbound time checks have been adjusted to optimize timing. Refer to the route page for the schedule.
Route 15 - UIS / Seven Pines
Time checks at UIS and Walmart on South 6th Street have been moved back 2 minutes to better time transfers at the Junction Circle Transfer Point.
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Beginning Wednesday, April 5th, Madison and Jefferson Streets will be closed between 9th and 11th Streets for underpass construction that will last upwards of 14 months. On Monday, April 3rd a new schedule will go into effect that accounts for these closures and makes some adjustments to other routes in the system.
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There are a handful of changes and updates going into effect on Monday, June 6th.
Urbanized Area Routes
Due to extremely low ridership, the mid-day trips spanning 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM on routes 410 (Chatham), 430 (Sherman), and 440 (Riverton) are suspended until further notice.
Route 4 - West Lawrence
Route 4 previously used 7th Street to circle to Clay and then 9th to make a stop at the SMTD office before heading west, but will now use 8th Street instead.
Route 7 - West Washington
Map showing the new path of Route 7 (red) compared to the previous version (blue).
Instead of taking West White Oaks to Iles to get to Veterans Parkway inbound, Route 7 will continue north on West White Oaks to Green Briar before getting on Veterans. Two stops that had previously been cut (1304 and 1306) will be reinstalled on the east side of West White Oaks between Iles and Greenbriar, mirroring the Route 903 stops (1272 and 1273) on the west side of that road segment.
Route 15 - UIS / Seven Pines
The “teardrop” at the UIS PAC building is reopened but there isn’t enough room for multiple buses to be stopped there at the same time. The 11 will remain unchanged, but the 15 will start its route at the UIS book store instead.
Franklin Park (Routes 15 and 905)
Bus stops 1366 and 1367 on South 11th Street have been moved west to the light poles closest to the new sidewalk connecting Pickfair Road and 11th Street, making service more accessible for the Franklin Park area. Both stops are serviced by Route 15 and Route 905. This change has already gone into effect, but on June 6th the new locations will be reflected in the schedule data used for our real-time bus tracker and navigation apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc.
Route 801 - State Fair Shuttle
The State Fair Shuttle bus will offer 30-minute trips to and from the fair and downtown on weekday evenings from August 13th to August 20th. Check our State Fair 2022 page for more information on service to the fair.
Sangamon Mass Transit District’s (SMTD) Board of Trustees met Monday for their regular May meeting and approved the district’s first Zero Emissions Fleet Transition Plan as required by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Many applications for federal grant funding now require a zero-emissions fleet transition plan, and SMTD developed the new plan to meet this requirement to apply for the next round of new buses to replace aging diesel buses.
“Since adding compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to our fleet in the mid-90s, SMTD has been a leader in Illinois in running low-emissions buses,” said SMTD Managing Director Steve Schoeffel. “With forty percent of our fleet CNG, we’re moving to change out our diesel fleet with diesel-electric hybrids, making our fleet fully low-emissions in the next ten years.”
SMTD currently runs 34 diesel-fueled buses and 22 CNG buses. The transition plan calls for gradually replacing the diesel buses with hybrids, then eventually introducing hydrogen fuel cell buses, transitioning the fleet to over fifty percent zero emissions in the next twenty-five years. For redundancy, SMTD plans to always utilize at least two different fuel types in the event an emergency or disaster eliminates one fuel source. So, unless a good alternative for CNG emerges, a portion of the fleet will remain fueled by CNG well into the future.
“We’re still planning studies to determine our next alternative fuel, but early research shows hydrogen fuel cell buses (HFCB) may be a better fit for our fleet, our operations, and our local climate,” Schoeffel said. “Any alternative fuel vehicle we decide to go with will be more expensive than diesel or CNG buses, and they will require fueling infrastructure. Right now, we’re leaning toward HFCBs, and we should be able to come to a more concrete decision in the next few years.”
Other agencies – particularly AC Transit in Oakland, California – have been studying various fuel-type buses side by side over decades, including diesel, hybrid, battery-electric buses (BEB), and HFCBs. Those studies have shown HFCBs can serve as a one-for-one swap with diesel vehicles based on range, operate more reliably in extreme heat or cold, and provide less down-time for repairs than BEBs. The possibility of eventually running HFC fueling stations exclusively with solar power is also an attractive option under consideration, ultimately reducing SMTD’s reliance on the local power grid.
SMTD believes while the up-front cost of the buses and infrastructure will be higher than maintaining the status quo, the cost to operate the vehicles and the reduced impact on the environment in local neighborhoods is a benefit.
“We operate in eighteen census tracts designated as ‘disadvantaged’ by the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool,” added Schoeffel. “Whether because of issues with sustainable housing, workforce development, health burdens, clean energy availability, or legacy pollution, these disadvantaged communities will immediately benefit from cleaner-running buses on their streets.”
Cost estimates for HFCBs and BEBs exceed a million per bus, nearly double the current cost of a diesel vehicle, which is why SMTD is moving in a measured, deliberate manner. Much of the funding for the fleet transition is expected to come from federal grant funds.
“We anticipate growing service needs and higher operational costs in the future, so we want to avoid saddling our successors with an unsustainable fleet replacement plan,” he said. These decisions are quarter-century or longer decisions, and we will be as efficient as we possibly can be with the tax dollars we are responsible for.”
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Up-to-the-minute info makes taking the bus even easier.
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Some important changes ahead for the 0E, 7, and 8.
