The Bus (Springfield, Missouri)

The Bus, also referred to occasionally as CU Transit, is a public transit system in Springfield, Missouri, United States. The service is provided by the transit division of the City Utilities of Springfield, who also provide paratransit under the name Access Express.

History
In 1945, Springfield City Council voted unanimously to purchase of the privately owned Springfield Gas and Electric Company, also the operator of the city transit system. This transaction created City Utilities and subsequently CU Transit. Springfield's transit system remains one of the few in the United States to be operated through a city utility company.

Transit centers
The bus has had 2 transit centers in its lifetime. The first was built in 1981 on McDaniel Street and Patton Avenue. It operated from 1981 until May 9, 2016, where operations moved to the new transit center on College and Main. The first transit center was then abandoned until its demolition on March 29, 2017.

Talk about a new transit center began in the early 2000s, transit officials expressed the need for a new transit center due to lack of space, preventing expansion and being too small for buses themselves.

Planning begun in 2006 after the Federal Transit Administration provided $1.63 million for the new facility and $1.47 million in 2008. A site for the location on Collage and Main was chosen in September 2012 and bought in October of that year.

The new CU Transit Center, costing $4.4 million, had a ribbon cutting ceremony in the morning of May 6, 2016. The station began bus service starting with weekend service on May 8 and full weekday service operations on May 9. The introduction of the new transit center also brought a complete overhaul of the bus routes.

On November 14, 2022, Greyhound Lines moved all operations into the CU Transit Center.

Fares
The bus operates on flat rate fare system that costs an adult $1.25 for a single ride with a 10-cent surcharge for transfers. Discounted fares are offered for youth passengers and those that are senior citizens, disabled, or have Medicare. Fares are also offered in bulk ticket books as well as daily, weekly, monthly, and semester passes. Fares can be paid through several payment methods:


 * Token Transit, an app for Electronic tickets on public transit.
 * Smart cards, obtainable via a Ticket-vending machine or the transit center
 * On the bus itself (with cash)
 * Physical ticket bought at transit center

Mobile Electronic tickets and Smart cards that could be bought at the transit center or with new Ticket-vending machines were introduced on February 23, 2018. Smart cards can only be used with 7 or 31 day passes in any fare tier, there is $1 fee for a smart card but they can be reloaded indefinitely.

Proposed changes
There has been multiple proposed changes to the fare system, Now inactive advocacy group known as 'Fare Free SGF' had advocated for expanded and free public transit in the area. The CEO of CU Transit, Gary Gibson, spoke with administration at RideKC, the transit agency for the Kansas City metropolitan area about how their Free public transport has affected their system. According to Gary Gibson their was "mixed messages." Fare free was defined as a possibility in the 2023 study 'ConnectSGF', along with a limited 'Fare free ID' program.

In a 2023 study for the bus system, know as 'ConnectSGF' conducted by Olsson contracted by CU Transit, proposed a 20% fare reduction. This would reduce the $1.25 base one-way fare to $1.

Fleet and Depot
City Utilities currently owns a total of 33 buses. This consists of 31 buses in the active fleet and two buses in the contingency fleet.

All buses operate out of the City Utilities Vehicle Maintenance building, once used by Springfield Traction Company streetcars.