Metro Transit (Madison)

Metro Transit, formerly Madison Metro, operates bus services throughout the City of Madison, Wisconsin, United States and several of its suburbs, including Middleton, Fitchburg, Maple Bluff, Shorewood Hills, Sun Prairie, and Verona. System-wide, fixed route ridership was 13,385,628 in 2018. Metro Transit also provides supplemental transit services to Madison's high schools. These routes have been designed to provide additional services during peak school times. Metro Transit also serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, Eagle Heights University apartments, and some off-campus residential areas, via routes 80, 81, 82, and 84. These routes are free of charge for UW students and faculty.

Metro also connects with suburban mass transit services, such as the Monona Lift/Monona Express.

History
Bus service in Madison was originally owned by a private company. It was established in 1910 to serve parts of Madison that weren't served by streetcars. In 1928, an ice storm heavily damaged the streetcar lines. The bus company replaced the streetcar lines with buses. After the company's revenues fell and the quality of service declined in the 1960s, the city agreed to purchase the Madison Bus Company, with the acquisition taking effect on May 1, 1970. Metro Transit's routes were dramatically overhauled on July 19, 1998. Previously, all routes had passed through Capitol Square, making downtown the only interchange point for cross-town travel. The 1998 changes redesigned the entire network around four newly created "transfer points" on the north, east, south, and west sides of the city. The number of routes nearly doubled, from 23 to 43. Additionally, while the old routes had been indicated with letters, the new routes were given numbers to illustrate that they had no connection to the previous network. This transfer point system had been proposed as early as 1970, while the city was in the process of acquiring the bus company, by city council candidate Audrey Parkinson.

In 2019, Metro Transit updated its logo and bus look. The same year, several middle schools switched to yellow buses.

Several routes were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and did not return.

In 2023, the route network was overhauled to one with fewer routes and more frequent service. The newly redesigned network was launched on June 11, 2023. Most of the new routes are lettered rather than numbered. The north, east, and west transfer points were eliminated from the network. The south transfer point is still used and will eventually be replaced with standard streetside bus shelters and the transfer point will be redeveloped. The change has had a mixed reception; some have praised the redesign for more frequent service with fewer transfers, while others have criticized the redesign for eliminating service where the elderly, disabled, and low-income populations used to be able to ride the bus.

The same summer, the school routes received a handful of updates. Previously the school routes were lettered, but the routes are now numbered, each route has a triple-digit number. For the first time, supplemental school service was provided to Capital High, which had just moved into the former Hoyt School building. The remaining middle schools switched to yellow buses as part of recent route changes.

In December 2023 the Monona city council voted to join the Metro Transit network with a future branch of the C route slated to serve the suburb as well as opening stops along the existing G and L routes that currently operate express through Monona, this will replace the existing Monona Express commuter service.

Route network
The transit network focuses on point-to-point service with some routes having different destinations but sharing the same core segments. Many routes serve downtown Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where transit usage is high.

The vast majority of service updates reflected in this section went into effect in June 2023. Significant changes include the restructuring of the main route network, including the discontinuation of the previous transfer point system, and the reintroduction of lettered routes replacing the previous numbering system. Although a small amount of weekday commuter routes remain numbered for administrative reasons. The University of Wisconsin circulator network was largely unaffected by the changes and retain its previous numbers/ routes.

Bus rapid transit
In the early 2020s, Metro Transit began design and construction of a bus rapid transit system that will offer faster and more frequent service. The BRT lines will have buses that run every 5–15 minutes during weekday hours. Initially, the BRT system will consist of two lines: an east–west line that will replace Route A in late 2024; and a north–south line that will replace Route B in 2028.

Regular routes
All routes in the table below run daily with varying service levels given the time/day. For example, route B runs every 15 minutes on weekdays, but every 30 minutes during evenings and weekends.

Sun Prairie circulator service
Metro Transit provides two local bus routes within the City of Sun Prairie. Both routes run on a looping circulator system beginning and ending at the Sun Prairie Park and Ride, where it is possible to transfer to Route A into the city of Madison and connect with the rest of the Metro system. Route S runs seven days a week including holidays with 60 minute headways and route W operates on weekdays only with 30 minute headways. Route W interlines with the mainline east-west Route A at the Park & Ride, allowing for a single seat ride from Sun Prairie to downtown Madison, campus and points west.

UW–Madison campus buses
All UW campus routes are fare free to students, faculty, and staff. Operating costs are paid by Associated Students of Madison, UW Transportation Services, and University Housing. When UW–Madison is not in session, service is reduced on routes 80 and 84 and routes 81 and 82 do not run.



Supplemental school service

 * 60 – East High School District
 * 61 – La Follette High School District
 * 62 – Memorial High School District
 * 63 – West High School District
 * 64 – Capital High School District

Fleet

 * 909, 913, 916, 918, 921-924, 926, 928, 930–931, 935–938, 940–941, 943, 945–949, 951–999, 100–160 Gillig Low Floor (Many are used mostly for school and peak-hour service.)
 * 001–021 Gillig/GM/Allison (Gillig BRT Hybrid)
 * 1901–1915 New Flyer Xcelsior (40' ft) added in 2019.
 * 2001–2003 Proterra, Inc. Electric Buses, joined fleet in the summer of 2020, began service late 2022.
 * 2004–2015, 2201–2215 New Flyer Xcelsior (40' ft) added 2020-22.
 * 2301-2327 New Flyer Xcelsior 60-foot battery electric buses; will be used on the new Bus Rapid Transit line in 2024.

Retired fleet

 * 422-445 Saab-Scania CN112CLU
 * 446-556 OBI Orion
 * 557-719 Gillig Phantom
 * 800–875 New Flyer D40LF
 * 876–908, 910–912, 914–915, 917, 925, 927, 929, 932–934, 939, 942, 944, 950 Gillig Low Floor