Campus bus changes designations

Transportation Services and the city’s Metro Transit have changed the designations of the free campus bus routes in an effort to make the routes more user-friendly.

Free SAFEride service will continue to be provided after 6:30 p.m. on all campus routes.

The routes, currently named L and LN, this week became Routes 80, 81 and 82. The routes will continue to be free and will run on mostly the same schedule.

The only difference will be more frequent trips on Route 80, which will run every 8 minutes all day. Right now, there are some pockets of time when the buses run every 10 minutes.

The route designation changes will help Metro install online trip planning software that is scheduled to be available in the near future. The software only understands route numbers, not letters.

In addition, the changes will clear up any confusion that riders feel when traveling the late-night routes. There are currently three different routes signified by the letters “LN.” Changing the route designations to three numbers reduces the likelihood that riders will board the wrong bus.

Bus marquees will continue to indicate that the buses are free and which areas they serve.

The changes are:

• The L-Campus Route and LN-Campus Route will become Route 80-UW Campus during the day and Route 80-UW Campus SAFEride at night.

Currently, both routes serve the same stops, with the L route running during the day and the LN route at night. The two will be merged under Route 80.
The route will continue to serve the Memorial Union, Library Mall, State Historical Society, Helen C. White Library, Bascom Hill, Lakeshore Dorms, Steenbock Library, Natatorium, Lots 60 and 70, UW and VA Hospitals, Eagle Heights, Babcock Hall, Henry Mall, Union South, Waisman Center, Nielsen Tennis Center and Chadbourne/Barnard Dorms

• The LN-Lakeshore Dorms/Langdon-Johnson Route will become Route 81-SAFEride Tripp-Johnson. The route will continue to serve the Memorial Union, Helen C. White Library, Health Sciences Library, Bascom Hill, Steenbock Library, Lakeshore Dorms, Medical Sciences Complex, MATC-Downtown, Langdon/Johnson neighborhood, James Madison Park, State Street and Library Mall.

• The LN-Regent-Breese/Bedford-Broom Route will become Route 82-SAFEride Breese-Broom. The route will continue to serve the Memorial Union, Bascom Hill, Helen C. White Library, Camp Randall Stadium/Fieldhouse, Humanities/Vilas, Southeast Dorms, Engineering Campus, Union South, State Street, Library Mall, Wendt Library, Merit House, SERF and Broom/Bassett neighborhood.