Route 8 will now travel to Junction Circle, although the times at that stop will be offset from the other routes that are based there. The move simply facilitates transfers without requiring passengers to cross Stanford Avenue on foot.
Outbound, the route now will stay on Outer Park rather than travel into the neighborhood behind Franklin School.
See detailed changes here:
Click on the village to see the schedule.
Springfield, IL – The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) will hold eight Open House-style events to gather public comment on a new route system planned to take effect when the agency moves its downtown transfer center from 5th & Capitol to 11th & Washington/Adams. The move is scheduled to happen August 1st and requires at least two meetings for the public to be allowed to comment on the proposed changes. SMTD’s Board of Trustees will then vote on the proposed new route system at their next board meeting at the end of February.
“The transfer center move is something the community has been looking forward to for quite some time,” said Steve Schoeffel, SMTD Service Planning & Marketing Specialist. “Because that move changes routes by eight or nine city blocks, several of our current routes cannot maintain their schedules after that move. So, instead of tweaking just those routes, now is a good time for an overhaul of our entire system, building in more efficiency, offering more destinations and providing clearer schedules that are more-easily understood by current and prospective passengers as well as visitors.”
SMTD will go beyond the required two public meetings for a change this size, offering eight separate events over three weeks in seven locations across the area, an interactive web page and likely Facebook LIVE of at least one of the events for anyone who may not be able to physically make it to a location. There will be no formal presentation. Instead, the events will include several stations with maps and graphics highlighting detailed sections of the system along with a station for a more general overview. The offerings are scheduled as follows:
The public is encouraged to make written comment at one of the events, via the comment page on the website or via comments on any Facebook LIVE broadcast. Comments will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for review before the system re-design is voted on. No comments will be accepted after 4:30PM on February 23rd in order for staff to have time to compile comments for the board of trustees.
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.
The construction is expected to conclude within a few days.
The Illinois Association of Technical Accident Investigators (IATAI) will be conducting crash tests at several locations near South Taylor and East Stanford on Wednesday, October 4th. Routes 10 and 11 will be detouring around the area from 8:15 AM to 5:00 PM.
Click here to open the above map in a new window.
Route 11 will be making trips from downtown to Capital City Shopping Center and back. A helper bus will be used to make connections between CCSC and the rest of the usual Route 11 south of Stevenson. Do not hesitate to contact our dispatch if you have questions: 217-522-5531
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:
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.
The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) announced today that new booklet-format Passenger Guides are now available to the public. The new publication replaces the decades-old folding maps that SMTD has used since the 1960s.
"Over the years, we have heard complaints that the maps and schedules were too large and too difficult to refold and reuse," said Steve Schoeffel, SMTD’s Service Planning & Marketing Specialist. "After discussing several options, we came to the decision that the booklet format would work the best."
In addition to the maps and schedules and a few pieces of information squeezed onto the old maps, the Passenger Guide contains much more detailed information on everything from night service to local college campus stops to a page dedicated to points of interest throughout the area.
"The new Passenger Guides give us the opportunity to give passengers and the public in general easier-to-read schedules and maps, information on how to ride and other, more-specialized facts about bicycle policies and how SMTD is an environmentally-friendly choice for transportation, just to name a few," Schoeffel continued.
SMTD is already looking ahead to future editions.
"With our coming move from Fifth and Capitol to the new, off-street Transfer Center and all of the changes that will cause, future editions will hopefully include bus stops along each route, detailed transfer information and more information on new technology being implemented over the next year," he added. "It’s an exciting time at SMTD, and we hope we can provide plenty of information to our passengers to manage smooth transitions to new sites, new technology and new routes over the next two years so they can fully enjoy the improvements as well. The new Passenger Guides are a first step in that information distribution effort."
Passenger Guides will be available beginning in the next couple of days from Road Supervisors at the Transfer Center, at SMTD’s offices at 928 S. 9th Street and later this week at locations around Springfield where you can purchase tickets.
An electronic version is available here.
The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) announced today that bus service will again pass by the Illinois State Fairgrounds at bus stops along Sangamon Avenue over 550 times during the 2017 State Fair.
"Our regular Route 1 North 5th and Route 2 North 9th service will pass by the fairgrounds over 500 times during this year’s State Fair," said SMTD Managing Director, Frank Squires. "And we have maintained our stepped up public outreach from last year to continue to get the word out that there are plenty of bus trips to the state fair available to the public."
Brochures detailing schedules will again be available at local hotels, the fairgrounds and other popular visitor spots, and signage downtown, at fair gates and along the routes to the fair make the routes much more visible to residents and visitors alike.
"The only real change from last year is eliminating the last two weeknight trips," said Steve Schoeffel, SMTD’s Service Planning & Marketing Specialist. "Since last year’s fair, our regular night service was reduced by one hour. So, to avoid dropping off passengers downtown with no bus to connect to, we are rolling back the weeknight trip hours to align with our regular night service."
Service runs weekdays from 6:15 AM to 9:30 PM on weeknights and 6:15 AM to 6:15 PM on Saturdays. There is no Sunday service, and buses may not run their regular routes on the Thursday the State Fair opens due to parade traffic and street closures around the fairgrounds.
All of SMTD’s daytime routes that cover most of Springfield meet the state fair routes at the downtown transfer center throughout the day. Passengers needing to change buses downtown should ask their first driver for a transfer when they pay their fare. Regular fare for passengers 5-and-over is $1.25 each way. Seniors 65 or older with ID ride for $ .60 each way. The first two children under 5 ride for free. More than two children under five ride for $ .60 each. To learn more about SMTD’s State Fair Service, click here.
Springfield, IL – With the Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) on the verge of multiple changes that will impact passengers, operators and everyone interacting with public transportation in the Springfield area, SMTD is providing an additional avenue for the public to make their own suggestions on the website.
“We are just weeks away from releasing a new Passenger Guide, we are implementing new onboard technology, demolition is underway at the area of the new off-street transfer center, which will necessitate a change in several of our current bus routes, and following the completion of the current technology upgrade, we are planning to upgrade fare collection,” said Steve Schoeffel, Service Planning & Marketing Specialist for SMTD.
Schoeffel explains the new Passenger Guide will replace SMTD folding maps and schedules with an easier-to-use booklet containing all of the information from the maps and schedules along with other information passengers would have to visit the website for currently. The onboard technology upgrades will include real-time information for passengers, GPS-controlled destination sign changes and automated stop announcements. The new Transfer Center will provide a safer base of operations for daytime and nighttime service, and a re-design of SMTD’s routes will allow for more-efficient service, more consistent schedules and overall better bus service geared toward current and projected demand.
“As an agency that deals with public transportation day-in and day-out, we obviously have ideas on how to make improvements,” Schoeffel added. “But now, early in the process, we want to open up an avenue for passengers and the general public to tell us what they would like to see as we update the system. What would make them use the system more, and what would make residents not currently using transit consider SMTD as a viable transportation option?”
While the SMTD website has allowed for general comment for a while, a special “Share Your Ideas” link and page has been built, including an online form where passengers can make suggestions or requests. The information collected will be seen regularly by staff, and will be collected and included with any public comment records kept for the associated changes.
“We see this as an opportunity for stakeholders in SMTD’s area of service to make the kind of suggestions for larger changes that aren’t often on the agenda of a typical public comment session set up for a narrowly-defined individual project,” Schoeffel continued. “We still will have to work within – or possibly with less than – our current budget, but this is one of the few opportunities we, as an agency, have had to encourage and collect feedback on our overall system so early in the process – long before statutory public comment requirements.”
