Some important changes ahead for the 0E, 7, and 8.
With enough work completed to allow the operation of buses on the new surface and the site of SMTD’s new Transfer Center at the Springfield-Sangamon County Transportation Center, operations will begin at the new site Monday morning, February 21st. Three of the four bus lanes are complete, and much of the concrete surface is complete, which will allow SMTD to resume operations on the new site as the building and rest of the project is completed throughout this year.
“We are excited to be moving back to the newly updated site,” said SMTD Managing Director Steve Schoeffel. “This partially-completed facility will better serve the public now even as construction continues.”
SMTD returns to the site on 11th Street between Washington and Adams streets from a temporary location just north in use since late August. Unlike the temporary site, the new site will have some passenger shelters added during the week, and will be a paved, organized space built for bus traffic. As the project progresses, additional shelters and canopies will be constructed to provide even more shelter from the elements for passengers.
Information on where specific routes will be located on the new site can be found in this previous news post.
With construction of the Springfield-Sangamon County Transportation Center in full swing, the next few years will involve substantial changes to the city of Springfield and, as a result, the SMTD bus system. Underpasses between 9th Street and 11th Street at Carpenter, Ash, and Laurel have been completed but more construction lies ahead, and bus routes will need to continually adapt to the shifting landscape. January of 2022 will include service modifications on the 10th and the 24th.
Due to construction on 5th Street only one bus will be able to park at Stop F at the downtown transfer center starting on Thursday, December 21st. Other routes that normally stop at F will be moved to other transfer stops.
- Route 18 will move to bus stop B
- Route 4 will move to bus stop A
- Route 3 will move to bus stop C
- Route 1 will stay at bus stop F
The construction is expected to conclude within a few days.
Several streets downtown will be closed for the Route 66 Mother Road Festival being held this weekend so we will be relocating both the day and night transfer centers to 5th & Jackson. Here's a listing of the detour maps for each route:
- Route 1 - North 5th
- Route 2 - North 9th
- Route 3 - Grandview
- Route 4 - West Jefferson
- Route 5 - North Walnut
- Route 6 - East Cook / Ash / White Oaks Mall
- Route 7 - West Washington
- Route 8 - 1st & Highland
- Route 9 - M. L. King
- Route 10 - Southern View / Laketown
- Route 11 - UIS
- Route 13 - MacArthur / Westchester / Jerome
- Route 14 - Wabash / Prairie Crossing / Gaines Mill
- Route 15 - South 11th / UIS / LLCC
- Route 16 - Bergen Park / Sand Hill
- Route 18 - Lawrence / Knox Knolls
- Route 901 - North Side Night Service
- Route 902 - Southeast Side Night Service
- Route 903 - West Side Night Service
- Route 905 - UIS / LLCC Night Service
Several routes will also have to make slightly different detours on Friday, September 22nd due to the parade, starting at 5:45 pm and lasting until the parade concludes. These can be seen on this map.
On Saturday, May13, 2017 at 6:00am, due to the 5K event downtown,
the transfer center will be located on the south side of Monroe (State Capitol side) between
2nd & College, returning to the regular transfer center at 5th & Capitol at 11:45am. Routes will
stage as follows:
- Between College and Spring on Monroe:
- 1 N. 5th
- 2 N. 9th
- 3 Grandview
- 4 W. Jefferson
- 5 N. Walnut
- 7 W. Washington
- 13 MacArthur/Westchester
- 16 Bergen Park/Sand Hill
- 18 Lawrence/Knox Knolls
- Between Spring and 2nd Streets on Monroe:
- 6 E. Cook
- 8 1st/Highland
- 9 M.L. King
- 10 Southern View/Laketown
- 11 UIS
- 14 Wabash/Prairie Crossing
- 15 So. 11th/UIS/LLC
As usual, buses will be in service on Veterans Day (Friday, November 9th) but will be running Saturday schedules which means some routes will run every hour instead of every half-hour. We have included this holiday service in our GTFS data so that supported navigation apps will be able to give you the correct information.
Additionally, the daytime transfer center will be moved one block south to 5th & Jackson during the Veterans Day parade, from approximately 8:15 AM to 11:45 AM. After the parade concludes the transfer center will be moved back to its normal location at 5th & Capitol.
Springfield, IL – The Springfield Mass Transit District (SMTD), responding to delays in state payments and continued uncertainty in the state budget moving forward, will collect public comment on proposed changes to night service. Passengers and other interested Springfield area residents can provide comments online on this page or by attending one of two sessions open to the public at Lincoln Library on November 4th. The sessions will take place in the Carnegie Room North from Noon to 1:30 PM and from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM Friday, November 4th. Following are the proposed changes:
- Elimination of Saturday Night Service - Saturday Night Service is a new service which began less than two months ago. While passengers who have begun to use the service will be inconvenienced, this service requires extra maintenance, dispatch and paratransit staff in addition to the operators required on the routes.
- Elimination of Night Service Route 904 - Night Service Route 904 runs opposite the 903 along the same route on the west side. Route 904 passengers may be inconvenienced, but route 903 ensures night service will remain in one direction along that route. The proposed change will reduce overall night service by 20% while still leaving passengers another clear option.
- Reduction of all Night Service Monday through Friday by two hours - The proposed elimination of the last two current trips of weeknight service reduces all aspects of SMTD operational costs by ten hours per week. Similar to Saturday service, this service requires extra maintenance, dispatch and paratransit staff in addition to the operators required to run the routes. Night service after the change would consist of one-hour trips at 6:45, 7:45, and 8:45 on the current routes 901, 902, 903 and 905.
- Impact on Access Springfield paratransit service - Reductions in SMTD regular service hours will impact Access passengers as well. Access paratransit service runs the same hours as SMTD mainline service. So, any reduction in service hours at the end of that day on weekdays and on Saturdays will reduce paratransit service hours by an equal amount.
The downtown Lincoln Library at 7th & Capitol was selected for reasonably easy access for bus passengers, with the Transfer Center just two blocks west and nearby bus stops at 8th & Capitol on Routes 2, 9 and 15 outbound, and at 7th & Monroe on Routes 3 and 16 outbound. Click here for directions (via Google Transit).
“SMTD is required to collect public comment which is then submitted to our Board of Trustees before a vote is taken on service reductions,” said Steve Schoeffel, Service Planning & Marketing Specialist. “With an online option and meetings scheduled over the lunch hour and after work hours in a central location like the library, we are providing multiple avenues for the public to make their voices heard. If the state budget situation is not resolved, this could be just the first of further reductions needed in order to still be able to provide core services.”
In addition to submitting public commit, SMTD is asking passengers and supporters of public transportation to contact local legislators and leaders up to the State Comptroller and Governor’s Office to voice their concerns over state funding delays and how the loss of these and any other SMTD services would affect them.
The Route 66 Mother Road Festival will be taking place this weekend, from Friday, September 23rd through Sunday, September 25th. As a result both the day and night bus transfer centers will be moved to the 5th & Jackson area (about a block south of the usual daytime transfer center) on Friday and Saturday. Any regular stops contained within the street closures will not be in operation.
Here's a map showing the stops for each route and the street closures (click here to open in new window):
More information about the Route 66 Mother Road Festival:
The daytime transfer center will be moved one block south on Saturday, March 12th in order to accommodate the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown.
- On 5th, between Jackson and Edwards:
- Routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13
- On Jackson, between 4th and 5th:
- Routes 2, 6, 8, 9, 15, 16
- On 5th, just south of Edwards:
- Routes 10, 14, 18, Sec. of State / IDOT, all Trippers
Click here to view a map of the area.
The daytime transfer center will be back to its usual location at 5th & Capitol on Monday, March 14th.
