University of Wisconsin-Madison students must pre-order their Associated Students of Madison bus passes online prior to pick-up this fall.
The new reusable, tap-fare passes will be distributed by UW-Madison Transportation services and still offer free, unlimited use of Madison Metro Transit buses, UW Transportation Services said. Between 30% and 60% of UW-Madison students ride a Metro Transit bus to campus daily depending on weather conditions, according to university data.
The passes will be compliant with the new tap-to-pay bus fare system that will be installed in all Metro Transit buses by September. Bus fares without a pass will now be “pay as you go” and reloadable online, with daily, weekly and monthly caps.
Students will keep the re-usable bus pass as long as they are enrolled and meet eligibility requirements — including by paying segregated fees which subsidize the cost of the bus pass — instead of getting a new ASM bus pass every semester.
After processing, UW-Madison students will receive an email when their Metro Transit bus pass is ready for pickup on weekdays from Aug. 26 to Sept. 13, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Union South ticket booth. After Sept. 16, passes will be available during business hours at the Transportation Services office instead of StudentPrint.
StudentPrint, a non-profit printing center in the Student Activity Center, will also transition this fall to offer limited self-service printing and no longer staff students, according to the StudentPrint website. Until September, Spring 2024 ASM bus passes will still be available at StudentPrint and usable on any Metro Transit bus.
The passes must be returned to Transportation Services after graduation, withdrawal or permanent departure from UW-Madison. Replacements for lost or damaged passes will cost $25, a $5 increase.
The system wide change in fare cards comes amid the city of Madison’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) launch and last summer’s overhaul of current Metro Transit buses. BRT allows for riders to move faster over longer distances, with fewer stops and dedicated bus lanes, marked with red paint on roads.
BRT Route A will start in the fall, according to Metro Transit, and an East-West BRT line through the city is set to open in 2028. Signs of BRT expansion can already be seen on campus — a new BRT station outside of Mosse Humanities Building has finished construction. Ticket vending machines will be available at all BRT stations.
Metro Transit is also making changes to campus fare-free bus lines, including the 80 bus line, which services campus and the Eagle Heights neighborhood. To address congestion, new accordion electric buses will be introduced to the fleet.
The new buses are longer than the current buses in the fleet and can hold 90 passengers, 30 more than current 80 buses. The new accordion buses also utilize raised platforms, which allows disabled passengers to board buses more easily. About six of the current nine buses dedicated to the 80 route will be switched to accordion buses, according to District 8 Ald. MGR Govindarajan.
“That means several hundred more students will be able to take the buses, it's something that's really gonna help with the congestion problem,” Govindarajan said.
Gabriella Hartlaub is the former arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has also written state politics and campus news. She currently is a summer reporting intern with Raleigh News and Observer. Follow her on Twitter at @gabihartlaub.
