Looking at how big this campus is, it’s clear you don’t want to have a car here without a place to park it. But you haven’t ridden your bike since you got your car. So, how are you going to get around this sprawling academy?

Don’t just get in the way of the Champaign-Urbana MTD buses, board them!

Red, Green, Yellow, Yellowhopper, Brown, Lavender, Blue, Lime, Gold — there are many different lines. But you have no idea where any of them go, so they’re impossible to use. 

Don’t give up! I promise the buses are useful. And I have never steered you wrong.

Make sure to look into the bus system before you are running late and need to get somewhere ASAP. If you don’t acknowledge the CUMTD’s existence before the moment you are desperate to get somewhere quickly, you will invariably end up riding a strange bus to the Urbanian catacombs. 

Take 10 minutes to either look it up online, or talk to your resident advisor about it. Your first question is simple: Which bus lines pass by my dorm?

This should absolutely be your starting point. This reduces the amount of routes you’re trying to process from dozens to two or three. Say you live at Pennsylvania Avenue Residence hall or Florida Avenue Residence hall; the Silver, Teal and Illini lines all pass right in front of your building. They go two directions (to and from campus). The three lines slightly alter their routes between night and day services. So, if you’re leaving your dorm or need to get back to it, South Silver, East Teal and South Illini will get you back home eventually; the Illini is the most eventual — it goes everywhere and nowhere quickly.

So you’ve successfully took the South Silver back from your Intro to Fiction class — great. But one trip does not a MTD aficionado make. CUMTD.com has a great trip planner page, where you type in your start and end points and it gives you a specific itinerary. Sometimes you need to transfer to another bus line. It’s better to know exactly where to get off to complete your transfer, rather than being like, “I think this is as close as this bus goes to Psi Upsilon, but I’m not really sure. Did we just miss our stop?” It’s better to know!

Alternatively, you can ask the bus driver. If you’re not drunk and obnoxious, there’s no chance the MTD staff will be anything but nice to you. They are as solid a resource as a computer, and in fact may be able to account for any detours or other temporary variations the website isn’t factoring in.

You don’t need to know the entire bus system. Just learn a few lines, the ones most relevant to you, and branch out from there.

Eventually you’ll learn that the Yellow goes from Ikenberry to downtown Champaign, that the Gold goes to the State Farm Center and that the Green goes to more than just Green Street. But for your first year, just learn what gets you to and from home.

Inevitably, you’ll hear about SafeRides. The reason the University wants you to know about this is because it’s the closest it gets to dealing with the rampant underage drinking beyond fun plays at the beginning of the year. They put a number on your i-card. Get home safe!

If you call SafeRides, they may help you, or they could direct you to a nearby bus stop. I encourage you to call this number if you’re somewhere and don’t know which bus to take home. 

I often hear people around campus moaning and groaning about the bus system in Champaign-Urbana. These people are morons. Champaign-Urbana has one of the best bus systems in the country. It’s not a magic carpet. Every once in a while, it’ll be late. You have to remember that these buses are being driven by humans who tend to be a minute late here or there, driving through traffic which tends to suck, especially on college campuses and in downtown areas. Just take the steps to learn it, and this whole community will open up for exploration. A decent knowledge of the bus system is one of the best favors you can do yourself, especially if you want to make this campus feel a little smaller.

Eliot is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EliotTweet.