Student bus route deemed success

Columbia Transit employees spent plenty of time talking to college students last year, and their effort seems to have paid off.

“We literally went door to door,” Columbia Transit marketing specialist Lee Radtke said. “We hit every apartment.”

The work was a part of a survey in preparation for a new bus route called the Gold Route, which began service last August. The route starts at Campus View Apartments at 301 Campusview Drive and covers mostly student apartment complexes on the way to Brady Commons, at 911 E. Rollins St.

The Gold Route served 25,000 people during the first semester of operation, which is an average of 300 riders a day, said Jill Stedem, Public Works Department public information specialist. The route operates only during the fall and winter semesters at MU.

“It has exceeded the numbers we thought we would have,” said Mark Grindstaff, a Public Works supervisor.

The route garnered enough riders to warrant an increase in its daily runs, which Columbia Transit implemented on Oct. 2.

“When I rode to school, it was usually midday, so the buses were probably half-full or less, but the rides home in the evening were always full,” said Rachel Crader, a resident of The Reserve apartment complex.

“Sometimes people even had to stand.”

Two of the apartment complexes along the route, The Reserve and Campus Lodge, contributed $32,000 to help pay for the driver and fuel, Grindstaff said. Residents of those complexes can ride the bus for free, with other students paying 25 cents each way. The fare for adults is 50 cents.

In addition to the free ride, Crader said, one of the biggest benefits is not having to park her car and wait for a shuttle bus to campus.

“If I drive, I have to park at Hearnes (Center) and then wait for a bus to randomly come; whereas, when I ride the bus, I know exactly when it will come and it only takes five to 10 minutes to get to Brady,” she said.

While some students are happy about the route’s convenience, Grindstaff said he is happy with the route’s performance on a per-hour-of-operation basis compared to other routes. The Gold Route runs fewer hours Thursday and Friday than the other routes, and it doesn’t run on Saturday.

“We were hoping to get at least what we get on other routes and it has exceeded that,” Grindstaff said.