• Source: Sangamon Mass Transit District

    • The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) is a regional mass transit district that mostly serves Springfield, Illinois along with a few neighboring communities. It is governed by a seven-member board of trustees, who are all appointed by the Sangamon County Board of Supervisors. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 1,406,900, or about 5,500 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.


    Routes



    The Sangamon Mass Transit District operates 17 regular routes during the day, 7 routes at night, and 9 supplemental routes which serve schools. On weekdays between 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., most routes run every half-hour. Eleven of the day routes begin at the downtown transfer center, at 11th and Washington Streets, with buses leaving downtown at the top and bottom of the hour. Five routes begin at a secondary transfer center on Junction Circle, on the southwest side, where most of the area's growth and new development has taken place in recent decades. These routes leave Junction Circle at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. One special route carries passengers between both locations. On weeknights between 6 and 10 p.m., five routes leave downtown once an hour, at the top of the hour, and two others begin and end at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The last buses of the night return to downtown at 11 p.m. Supplemental routes run only once per day. No service is offered on Sundays, nor on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
    Daytime routes

    Route 0 Transfer Center Express – Downtown to Junction Circle
    Route 1 Downtown to North 5th St. / Sand Hill Rd. - serves Illinois State Fairgrounds
    Route 2 Downtown to North 9th St. / Piper Rd. / Northgate subdivision
    Route 3 Downtown to Clear Lake Ave. / Midwest Technical Institute / Grandview
    Route 4 Downtown to West Lawrence Ave. / West Jefferson St.
    Route 5 Downtown to Memorial Medical Center / St. John's Hospital / North Grand Ave.
    Route 6 Junction Circle to Clear Lake Ave.
    Route 7 Downtown to West Washington St. / White Oaks Mall
    Route 8 Downtown to South Grand Ave. / South MacArthur Blvd. - serves Leland Grove and Jerome
    Route 9 Downtown to Martin Luther King Dr. / East Cook St.
    Route 10 Downtown to South 11th St. / Stevenson Dr. - serves the Laketown neighborhood
    Route 11 Downtown to University of Illinois Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College
    Route 12 Downtown to South 6th St. / Southern View / Memorial Medical Center and St. John's Hospital
    Route 13 Junction Circle to White Oaks Mall and other shopping centers on the southwest side
    Route 14 Junction Circle to Southern View and Toronto Rd.
    Route 15 Junction Circle to University of Illinois Springfield via Southern View, Chatham Hills subdivision
    Route 16 Junction Circle to West Wabash Ave.
    Evening Routes

    Route 901 North Side
    Route 902 Southeast Side
    Route 903 West Side
    Route 904 Southwest Side via Macarthur
    Route 905 UIS / LLCC
    Route 15 UIS to Chatham Hills subdivision via Junction Circle and Southern View
    Route 501 UIS to Lake Pointe subdivision
    Supplemental routes

    Route 202 Ash and Greentree to Laketown/Southern View
    Route 204 Lewis and Adams to downtown
    Route 208 11th and North Grand to downtown
    Route 210 Lewis and Adams to Amos / Golf / Brentwood
    Route 212 Ash and Greentree to downtown
    Route 214 11th and North Grand to Bruns Lane
    Route 215 Laketown/Southern View to Ash and Greentree
    Route 217 Clearlake to 11th and North Grand
    Route 220 Lewis and Adams to East Cook / Martin Luther King Jr. Drive


    Cash fare, transfers and passes


    Regular bus fare is $1.25 for anyone age five or over. Up to two children under the age of four are permitted on the buses free of charge with an adult. More than two children under this age will cost an additional 60 cents. For senior citizens, disabled persons, or Medicare card holders, fare is 60 cents with proof of such status. Senior citizens and disabled persons enrolled in the Benefit Access program can procure a photo ID that enables them to ride without paying a fare. Transfers between connecting buses are free and available upon request of the driver when fare is initially paid.
    Discount bus passes for students, senior citizens, and disabled people are available at public, private, and parochial schools, Lincoln Library, the local Hy-Vee, and the SMTD home office at 928 S. 9th Street. Reloadable fare cards are available at the main office.


    Buses



    The routes are covered with 53 buses (15 fueled with Compressed natural gas, 34 fueled with diesel) and 22 paratransit vans. All buses are equipped with bike racks.
    As of July 1, 2018, the buses are

    Four 2008 Gillig (Diesel) buses
    Ten 2011 Gillig (Diesel) buses
    Five 2013 Gillig (Diesel) 30' buses
    Seven 2013 New Flyer Industries Compressed natural gas buses
    Seven 2014 Gillig (Diesel) buses
    Two 2017 New Flyer Industries (Diesel) buses
    Eight 2018 New Flyer Industries Compressed natural gas buses
    Nine 2018 New Flyer Industries (Diesel) buses


    Paratransit


    The SMTD operates a paratransit service named Access Sangamon for disabled people who are unable to use the regular buses. Service is available at the same times that the regular buses are operating.


    Funding and employees


    In 2017, the employee headcount was 143, of whom 116 were members of labor unions and 27 were administrative personnel. The annual budget was $7.2 million.
    In the SMTD's 2017 operating budget, 9% was met through fares paid by riders. An additional 1% was earned through other private-sector-style income streams, such as income from placards and billboards on the buses, and the remaining 90% consisted of federal, state, and local public-sector funding.


    Recent developments


    On January 1, 2017, SMTD changed its operating name from Springfield Mass Transit District to Sangamon Mass Transit District. Limited-service suburban routes ran from 2018 to 2022.
    In 2019, the city opened a new transfer center on the east edge of downtown, and at the same time, completely overhauled its routes. The redesigned routes cover a larger geographical area than before, bringing service with reach of up to 10,000 additional area residents. Construction of the Springfield-Sangamon Transportation Center at the downtown transfer center began in 2021, and improvements are under construction to an adjacent railroad. When complete, the new facility is expected to become part of the Chicago Hub Network, Illinois' new high-speed rail system, with stops by trains and intercity buses. Greyhound buses began using the new transfer point in November 2022. Presently, Amtrak trains run on another railroad about half a mile west of the new transfer center.
    In 2022, the SMTD board approved a Zero Emissions Transition Plan, which would see the removal of all diesel buses by 2035 in favor of a combination of hybrid and zero-emission buses, with all buses being zero-emission by 2048. As of 2022, 60% of buses in the fleet were diesel powered, with the remainder being powered by compressed natural gas.


    Fixed Route Ridership


    The ridership statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response.


    See also


    List of bus transit systems in the United States
    Springfield station


    References




    External links



    Sangamon Mass Transit District homepage

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