Bloomington Transit offering expanded services

Starting Jan. 7, Bloomington Transit buses began offering longer hours for weekday nights as new schedules were introduced.\nRoutes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be affected by this change. The routes affected will run until 11:10 p.m., except for routes 2 South and 5, which will run until 10:40 p.m. Previously, most city buses stopped service by 9 p.m.\n“(The hour expansion) is to provide more flexibility and mobility options whether (our bus riders) go to school, work or go shopping,” said Lewis May, general manager for Bloomington Transit. “Now with the late-night bus service, you will be able to use the bus as (your) primary source.”\nMay estimated that about 9,000 people use Bloomington Transit on a typical weekday during the school year.\n“I have to ride the Bloomington Transit,” IU graduate student Sara Conrad said. “It’s always difficult to get on and off campus on a good time.”\nBloomington Transit also increased its bus fares starting Jan. 7, but the fare increase has nothing to do with the service expansion, May said. And the increase in bus fares will have no effect on the amount of IU student fees that are paid to Bloomington Transit, May said. The increase is due to the fact that the cost of living has gone up and the increase will help cover the new costs, he said.\nThe weeknight hour expansion was made possible through grants from the Federal Transit Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation, May said.\nMay said hopefully Bloomington Transit will be able to acquire more grants in the future so it can expand the weekend night routes, too.\nSophomore Tara Thornburg, a frequent bus rider, said she hopes Bloomington Transit will have more buses running because the route she takes only comes every 30 minutes.\nFor now, May said he hopes the expansion of nighttime hours will be only the start of an improved bus system.\n“We are going to help the community — not just the workers, but students will be able to use these routes to get to and from the campus,” May said. “We think it is going to be a really good thing for the community.”