Most students don’t have a car, but the buses go almost everywhere. Champaign-Urbana MTD buses are probably the best and easiest way for students to go places in the area. The faster students learn the routes, the easier life gets.
Students can get on any MTD bus at no cost with their i-cards. In fact, they don’t even need to show their cards when boarding the bus at iStops on campus. For those without an i-card, there are passes available for purchase, or they can pay $1 in cash on the bus.
Students can find all routes in the books at the front of the bus, posters at stops or online. There are also some given out on Quad Day. The busier stops typically have real-time trackers or time tables to tell approximate arrival times. Students can also use the trip planner online, as well as use smartphone applications to track the bus. The time shown is usually pretty accurate.
These online tools are very useful, especially in the winter when the weather is cold. Students won’t have to wait outside for a long time for the bus to come because they can track the time the bus will come.
For those without smartphones, each bus stop has a code that people can text to get the approximate time the next bus will arrive.
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It is best for students to become familiar with the bus systems when they first get to campus. After a few weeks, students will be able to navigate campus routes easily. Once the winter comes, the streets will be darker and it will be harder to learn the routes.
There are more than 10 bus routes that go through campus, and each one goes to different destinations. Students can go anywhere on campus with the bus, but they can go to many places off campus as well. These are examples of buses that are frequently used to go outside Campustown:
1 Yellow
Market Place Mall
Carmike Beverly Cinema
Savoy 16 Cinema
Walmart
2 Red
Illinois Terminal
Lincoln Square
Meijer
9 Brown
State Farm Center
Parkland College
Country Fair
27 Air Bus
Willard Airport
Illinois Terminal
If it is dark outside and students are far from bus stops, they can call SafeRides at (217) 265-7433 for a bus to pick them up as long as it is within the SafeRides district. If it is a shorter distance, students can also call SafeWalks at (217) 333-1216 for student patrols to walk them home at night.
Earn can be reached at [email protected].
