With an average temperature of 28.5 degrees last month, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District saw a 16 percent increase in bus ridership for the month of January compared with the first month of 2012, when the average temperature was 31.7 degrees.

The MTD set its highest record known for the month of January, carrying more than 1 million passengers, as opposed to about 928,000 in 2012.

This past month also brought all-time single-day records. On Jan. 31, when the low temperature was 6 degrees, MTD set the single-day record with 63,174 passengers. This number beat the previous record of 61,359 on Jan. 21, 2011, when the low was also 6 degrees.

Bill Volk, managing director of CUMTD, attributed the increase in ridership to the cold weather and economic hardships.

“Due to high tuition fees and less financial income at home, students have no choice but to take advantage of the public transportation system,” Volk said.

Because of this increase in ridership, Volk said the company is sending out an additional eight to 10 buses for morning service on the Yellow, Teal and Silver lines, which are heavily trafficked by students in the mornings.

Zakia Williams, freshman in LAS, said the amount of buses seems to be adequate.

“There’s a bus stop on every corner, and they are always frequent,” said Williams, who travels off-campus frequently. “It’s very convenient for me.”

Champaign Mayor Don Gerard said in an email that the greater MTD ridership will help by decreasing the demands for parking in the Campustown area.

Once spring comes, Volk said he expects ridership to decrease.

“We expect people to be happy to walk again once spring comes around,” Volk said.

Yele can be reached at [email protected].