Bloomington’s bus system is one of the most convenient ways to get around campus and Bloomington itself. Especially when walking long distances can be hard during winter, it’s essential. Here’s a guide to the system:
IU’s bus system has six lines: the B, E, F, W, X and CM.
The B is a convenient route for fraternities and sororities along David Baker Avenue and Eagleson Avenue, transporting students down through Eagleson and looping around south of campus.
The E is mostly used by residents who live north of campus and in dorms like Spruce or Forest. It transports students in a loop around IU’s campus.
The F takes students from the northwest neighborhood down Fee Lane into central campus, and loops around the west part of campus.
The W is convenient for students going from Showalter Fountain or the IMU to the stadium, or vice versa, by traveling along Woodlawn Avenue. It is usually used by students who park at Memorial Stadium.
The X also picks up students from the stadium and takes a similar route, except it doesn’t go south of 10th street.
The CM route runs only on Saturdays and Sundays and goes all around campus to the stadium, hospital, central campus, and the college mall.
No identification or payment is necessary to ride the IU Campus bus system.
Bloomington Transit has a variety of routes going all across town, but the most commonly used are the 9 and 6.
The 9 loops around west campus and travels down to College Mall. The 9 Limited follows a similar route except it only travels across south campus.
The 6 and 6 Limited are popular choices for traveling from student housing across campus. They travel across 10th Street and Seventh Street, looping around College Avenue and Walnut Street.
Other routes that pass by campus include the 3 College Mall/Hospital which goes across Third Street to College Mall and the IU Health Bloomington Hospital, the 5 and 7 which both travel south into Bloomington and the 12 which goes from central campus to the stadium.
To ride Bloomington Transit for free, students need to show the driver their Crimson Card on the way in. Otherwise, the regular fare is $1.00.
How to see routes and schedules
The best way to look at both IU’s Campus Bus Service and Bloomington Transit is through the IU Mobile app. Under the Campus and Buses tabs, you can select desired routes to display and track buses along their routes.
Other options include using BusGenius for IU’s bus system and Doublemap for Bloomington Transit.
Know your bus etiquette
Knowing bus etiquette will make your and everyone else’s trip much smoother. As a general rule, just try to keep others in mind while riding. Simple actions like not taking up seats with your bags, moving to the back of the bus when it starts getting full and not taking up more space than you need make a huge difference. Also, make sure you enter the bus from the front side and leave from the middle. It’s always nice to say “thank you” to the bus driver as well.
