A Madison Metro bus on Capitol Square
New crosstown bus routes have experienced delays downtown and on campus throughout the summer.
UW-Madison students returning to campus this fall will be navigating Madison’s redesigned bus system for the first time. They shouldn’t cut it too close to get to class.
“We’ve gotten significant feedback that our buses are running late all the time,” city transportation planner Mike Cechvala told the Madison Transportation Commission at an Aug. 23 meeting.
About two in five students take the bus to campus on peak days, according to a 2021 UW-Madison Transportation Services survey. Students are a driving force in the 40% bump in ridership Metro sees during the academic year. And this year, they could be in for a bumpier ride.
The new crosstown A, B, and C routes all run through downtown and campus, where they get delayed due to heavy ridership and construction-clogged roads. Sometimes the delays are so long Metro dispatches a new bus to pick up waiting passengers.
“These are very long routes,” Cechvala said at the meeting. “They’re also completely new routes.” In planning for the redesign, he added, “We had to make some assumptions about how quickly [buses] could get to the end of the line and circle back. And it’s just taking longer than we thought it would. Part of that’s traffic, part of it is construction, part of it’s just the number of boardings.”
To address the delays, Metro is adding some buses to the B and C lines. Metro staff is also looking to accelerate the closure of about 20 stops scheduled to be eliminated next year once infrastructure for the city’s bus rapid transit system is complete. Earlier this summer, UW-Madison also funded additional Route 80 buses on campus to reduce crowding.
A bit of relief may come as some summer construction projects wrap up, but lane closures on University Avenue west of campus and near the new oLiv building between Johnson and Gorham streets will affect major routes at least through finals in May.
Metro is planning to hold an information session on other proposed tweaks to the system Sept. 14, with a public hearing on Sept. 27. No changes would go into effect until the end of the fall semester.
