A new bus terminal and transportation routes operated by Springfield City Utilities is scheduled to open next Friday.
Joel Alexander is the communications manager at City Utilities.
“We’re just thrilled to finally have this project taken care of, and available to not only our transit customers but to the community.”
The new downtown transfer station at 211 N. Main Avenue includes a waiting room for bus riders, more accessible restrooms, and a public meeting room that can be reserved. According to Alexander, “it’s more of a wide use building.”
The terminal also includes new technologies, such as monitors for travelers to keep track of bus routes, weather, and area events. They can also track their routes through an app called Route Shout.
This new terminal will replace the old one located at Park Central West.
“The other one that has been there for almost three decades I would say is pretty much utilitarian, and it was a place for the buses to come in, turn around, people could go from one bus to another to continue their travels… this [new] one is really up to date, and it’s the best available that we have available now for our customers” says Alexander.
The total cost of this project was roughly $4.4 million, with about $3.6 million in grants received over several years from the Federal Transit Administration.
With the new transfer station comes some new routes, to begin Sunday, May 8.
“We’ve gone through with our fixed route advisory group, talked to all them and looked at all the routes, seeing where we might need to make some changes.”
These changes may also include some additional bus stops, or some bus stops being subtracted from the route for convenience. The CU Facebook page includes videos that show the new routes and stops.
“We had to make changes to really every route. Just by moving the Transit Center those three blocks that we did did create a bit of an issue. We had to look at what we could do to make those time stops to keep everybody running on time.”
Alexander adds, “It was time for a new transit center, and this one will be here for a long time…and we want it to be a good spot for the community.”
The dedication ceremony at 221 N. Main Avenue will take place Friday at 10 am. Later that day, the new terminal will be a host to First Friday Art Walk and welcome visitors to see the new facility and local artwork.