What is “On Our Radar”?
This page is our look into SMTD’s future. The projects underway, projects soon to be started, and service items we get asked about all the time. This is where you find out all there is to know about what’s going on right now and in the near future. Last update: January 30, 2024.
The Springfield Sangamon County Transportation Center is well-underway, beginning with the SMTD Transfer Center, indoor public waiting area with restrooms, and an outdoor public plaza with multi-level seating. Construction is expected to be substantially completed Spring 2024. Completion of the entire project including the 9th Street side and Amtrak Station is expected in 2026. The graphic below is a screenshot of the most recent drone video of construction along the rail corridor where the new facility is being built.
Construction as of late 2023
Mobile App and Fare
Our go!SMTD mobile app and new period passes were released in 2023 including 1-day, 7-day, and 31-day passes and loadable BusTap cards. The clock starts ticking after the first use of the period passes, and the loadable cards allow you to put cash on the card as you go for passengers that don’t ride often enough to benefit from the period passes. These passes are currently available at our office at 928 S. 9th, and online. However, SMTD had to temporarily remove the period passes from the app as we discovered fare evasion through fraudulent activity connected with the QR codes. We are working with our vendor, Genfare, to correct the issue. Sometime in Spring of 2024, we expect ticket vending machines to be available on-site at the transfer center as well as sales through customer service representatives at the facility. As these new phases of fare options are worked in, we will be evaluating the need in the months ahead for making the new passes available for purchase from additional retail partners around Springfield as well.
Improved Safety
The safety of our passengers and our employees is important to us. That’s why we have entered into an agreement with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office to provide security at the new Transfer Center. Sheriff’s Deputies patrol the area during operating hours and will continue to be on-site full-time when the full opening of the facility occurs this Spring. We look forward to developing this relationship and providing a safe, welcoming facility for our passengers and the general public.
Secondary Transfer Hub Receives Funding!
Regular passengers of SMTD know of the Junction Circle Transfer Point and the Express bus between there and the downtown transfer center. What most may not know is that the current on-street transfer point at Junction Circle was designed as a temporary solution to prove the concept of a secondary hub to serve the south and west sides of town without having to return downtown every trip. The concept has proven itself, allowing SMTD to serve larger parts of the Springfield area more efficiently.
On January 24th, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced the latest round of state funding for transit infrastructure, including $6.7 million for the construction of a new SMTD secondary hub in the area of the current Junction Circle Transfer Point. SMTD is working on acquiring property for this project, and completion is expected in about three years. While the design phase has not yet begun, SMTD anticipates a facility with ten to twelve bus bays, indoor break and restroom facilities for bus operators, and some type of covered shelter for passengers. More information will be made public as the project progresses.
New CNG Buses Enter Service; Hybrids Coming This Spring!
SMTD received four new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fixed route buses late in 2023, and they have been prepped and entered service in January. These low-emission vehicles replace four diesel-engine buses as the beginning of our phasing out of the diesel fleet. There are now 26 CNG buses in our fleet of 56 total buses, and this Spring, SMTD is scheduled to receive eight new diesel-electric hybrid buses, which will push our low-emission vehicle count to 34 and drop our diesel fleet to 22. We look forward to this new step in our effort to run environmentally-friendly vehicles, and we plan to share often our progress along the way.
Our “To Do” List
We receive many requests for service changes each week. Some are specific to a stop, and others are more reaching like a new route to a certain area or new service when service isn’t currently offered. Here is our “To Do” list of items we know the public would like to have, and some explanations as to when and how soon to expect them or why certain types of service are more difficult for SMTD to add.
WiFi on Buses
In an effort to accommodate passengers who may not have a substantial data plan - or any plan at all - on their mobile device, SMTD plans to implement WiFi on buses. The cost and process for implementing this technology are being explored, and, in an effort to assist all passengers in accessing fare, schedule, and other future SMTD offerings like mobile pay, we look to implement this new technology in the next year or two. When we do, we plan to offer multiple training events to assist all passengers wanting to learn how to better utilize features on their individual devices/phones.
More, Easy-to-Use Tutorials
Following up on the training events mentioned previously, SMTD plans to produce and offer more user-friendly video tutorials, walking current and prospective passengers a visual demonstration of how to use SMTD’s services. Let us know through our customer service email HERE if there are certain processes or items you would like to see covered in one of these video tutorials. Scroll down, and fill out the form that will be submitted via email to our staff.
New, better night service routes
Upgrading SMTD night service is on our short list of planning projects. The four large loop routes can be difficult to use and are limited in coverage. We will look at changing to more bi-directional routes, potentially adding service to currently underserved areas, and addressing areas with no night service at all. We may also consider, instead of new routes, extending some or all of our weekday routes into night service. However, the latter would likely be tougher to accomplish due to limitations on headcount. We hope to begin the planning for this change this year, with a goal of service changes likely coming sometime in 2023 or 2024.
Better weekday service
Over two years ago, SMTD implemented the first complete route system re-design in our fifty-year history. After over a year of data-gathering and feedback - even with the drop in ridership due to COVID-19 - we have been able to identify some issues in the new system we would like to address. Travel from one corner of the city to another could be improved, and more direct service in some areas is desirable. Along with a few low-performing routes and new, improved roads in certain areas, we will look to make improvements as soon as we can do so with adequate headcount, fleet size, and time to properly plan and test new service. We hope we can start the planning process this year, but any major route changes are not likely until a larger re-design would go into effect after the 3rd Street rail relocation in 2025.
Saturday night service
SMTD briefly began Saturday night service a few years ago but was forced to suspend the service due to imminent budget cuts during the state budget crisis. Getting through the route system re-design, then COVID-19, and now the above priorities, Saturday night service is still on our radar screen as a desirable service for many passengers. We will continue to plan to bring that service back at some point. However, adding Saturday night service is even costlier than adding weekday service, because not only will we be adding operators to run the buses, we will also have to add maintenance crews, dispatchers, and road supervisors. In each of those areas, headcount can also become an issue. Not an insurmountable challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
Sunday service
SMTD currently runs no service on Sundays. Like Saturday night service, there has been repeated desire in the community for SMTD to offer some sort of service on Sundays. Also like Saturday night service, adding Sunday service is even costlier than adding weekday service, because not only will we be adding operators to run the buses, we will also have to add maintenance crews, dispatchers, and road supervisors. In each of those areas, headcount can become a limiting issue. Further, collectively-bargained vacation policies for operators and other employees would require significant negotiations for Sunday service to happen. Again, not insurmountable, but an added challenge with plenty of other challenges that are higher priority.
Zero Emissions
SMTD currently runs a fixed route fleet (the big buses) fueled roughly half by compressed natural gas (CNG) and half by ultra-low sulfur diesel. Our paratransit fleet runs on gasoline, as do our smaller road supervisor vehicles and maintenance trucks.
SMTD has received funding for a planning and feasibility study to explore zero-emissions vehicles in the future. SMTD is limited on space at our facility. Infrastructure and additional buses (and more space) would likely be required due to the limited range of current battery electric vehicles and weather conditions here. To run the same service we run now would require as much as a fifty-percent larger battery-electric fleet. We also don’t know the capacity of CWLP to provide charging capacity as local power generation decreases and electricity demand increases. Another option is hydrogen fuel cell buses or other alternative fuels being developed. All of these questions are why we plan to study the issue carefully before deciding to move in any direction.
Currently, SMTD is transitioning the diesel side of the fleet to diesel/electric hybrid vehicles, which qualify as “low-emission” vehicles. The first four hybrid buses we plan to purchase in the next few months will take our fleet over the 50% mark in low-emissions buses, and we expect to be 100% low-emissions by the end of the decade. During that time, SMTD will study and likely settle on the zero-emission path we will take through the 2030s.
Bus Shelter Improvements
Upgrading shelters - We will plan to replace existing shelters in high-traffic areas with new and improved shelters and consider adding amenities like route and schedule information and solar lighting. This process is included in our five-year-plan but is probably at least a couple of years away.
Report A Stop - With over 1,200 bus stops in our system and a small staff to maintain them, crowd-sourcing issues at bus stops may result in faster repairs and improvements. SMTD will work to add a website feature in the future that will allow passengers or anyone in the general public to report an issue with a particular bus stop. This feature might also allow for requests for improvements at specific stops, like ADA concrete pads or shelters.
What Slows Us Down
As some reasons were mentioned before, it’s important to understand what drives and limits SMTD’s ability to provide more service. Four major components limit what we will be able to offer in the future or how long implementation might take:
Headcount - The number of employees available for any given purpose is referred to as headcount. Headcount can be affected by many factors from competition with other employers to strict drug and alcohol policies to illness and retirements. Even with a larger fleet, it still takes operators to drive the buses. SMTD is currently working to attain our desired headcount in operations, and we hope we can overcome this limitation very soon.
Fleet size - Every route takes a number of buses. For instance, an hour-long route that runs every thirty minutes requires two buses. Currently, SMTD has no spare ratio or contingency fleet other than what is generally in the garage for regular or preventative maintenance. That means we’re currently unable to add weekday service because our fleet is being utilized to its maximum capacity. As we attain a “state of good repair” with our current fleet, we are already planning to expand the fleet with one of our next purchases of new buses. Hopefully, the condition of our fleet will allow us to further expand rather than having to replace buses far past their suggested life.
Local Match - When SMTD applies for funding from state or federal sources, nearly all available grants require a “local match”, which is funding SMTD provides from local property taxes and other sources of revenue like fare collection and advertising sales. Since our boundaries have not changed since our founding in 1968, our tax base has grown only as far as those old boundaries have allowed. So, while our local levy is a stable funding source, the amount of leverage we can attain with 20% (federal) and 35% (state) required match remains limited. SMTD is proud of the financial stability we have sustained, and we always plan for sustained service over time rather than risk future service cuts for the latest trend or popular service offered in much larger transit districts like Chicago and St. Louis. As technology and additional facilities add substantially to our operating costs, we must also be mindful we maintain financial sustainability well into the future.
Our Size - SMTD is often accused of using our size as an excuse for poor service. That’s simply not true, but our size does play a role in how quickly we can make major changes happen. Our entire administration department is smaller than many individual departments at larger transit agencies. For instance, while a larger agency might have a Grants and Procurement Department that has multiple staff members looking for grant opportunities or a Planning Department constantly analyzing data and planning service improvements, SMTD usually has one person dedicated to a particular subject matter and sometimes multiple areas. So, even with excellent multi-tasking employees, major changes just take longer to plan and implement at a smaller transit agency of our size. SMTD has worked hard to evaluate staff needs and make additions where possible and will continue to do so as we make advances in technology, service, and facilities.
