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)
