Bloomington Transit has postponed approving all service changes at the board of directors meeting April 21. The changes were proposed by a previous study conducted in 2018-19 through a partnership with a transportation planning firm.
“The COVID-19 pandemic could result in major funding reductions from federal, state, and local sources,” Bloomington Transit General Manager Lew May said in the release. “It’s important for us to know what and how much those cuts may be before moving forward with most service changes.”
The current plan includes creating more routes and streamlining multiple other routes, according to the Bloomington Transit website. The plan went through multiple iterations in response to community input. However, one change isn’t affected by the postponement because it was approved at the April 21 meeting: Route 2 West 11th Street will be renamed Route 2 West 17th Street and align with West 17th Street, effective in August.
The bus service operates on a different schedule according to the day of the week. It is currently operating on a Saturday schedule for the foreseeable future, in addition to serving Route 3 Highland Village and Route 7 Henderson and Walnut. On weekdays, the buses see about 10% of pre-pandemic usage, according to the release.
Bloomington Transit has seen a number of changes since the coronavirus pandemic hit: passengers board through the back door, the Downtown Transit Center is closed to the public and there are no fares for all fixed routes and BT Access buses, which are disinfected nightly, according to the release.
