The shuttle service offered by Madison College has been of great benefit to the college community, especially before the pandemic and when classes were almost exclusively in person. So where does that stand now?
The shuttle is up and running again between Truax and the Goodman South campuses in Madison said Jackie Dahlke, the Transportation Program Analyst for Madison College. It closed with most of the rest of the world mid-March 2020 when the pandemic struck.
She’s hopeful that students will start taking advantage of this opportunity more now that the campuses are all a-flurry again with onsite courses and transportation has again become necessary for many people.
“You don’t have nearly as many in-person, on campus classes as you used to have pre-pandemic,” Dahlke acknowledged. “I estimated they would have just a fraction of the ridership and, so far, that is the case.”
But maybe it’s just slow in getting started again.
All that’s necessary for a ride is your OneCard student ID. Passengers can expect masks to be mandatory while riding the shuttle and that it can take about 45 minutes to cover the 10 miles one-way between these campuses. Each of the two shuttles can accommodate 27 passengers and one wheelchair at a time.
“It’s one of the things that, hopefully while you’re a college student, can make your life easier,” Dahlke explained.
There may be bigger news around the corner for the city of Madison and the surrounding areas as years of planning to reorganize the public transportation system will be coming to fruition summer of 2023.
This new design will have larger buses to accommodate more people while also providing faster service will less waiting and stops. According to Dahlke, 73 percent of Madison will live within one fourth mile of transit with 42 percent living within one fourth of a mile to transportation that has a 15 minute or less wait.
More information on how all that will unfold and affect Madison College is yet to be revealed in full.
More commute options such as Ride Share, Park & Ride, Round Trip, Vanpool, e-bikes and Metro Transit for both Madison residents and those in surrounding cities can be found at the Student Life office as well as a full list of shuttle pick up times.