MTD Thanks Passengers For Their Patience As More Service Cuts Are Released
It has been a little over three months since the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) made the difficult, but necessary, decision to implement service cuts due to an ongoing Operator shortage. The rise of the Omicron variant has further complicated our daily scheduling capabilities. MTD’s workforce shortage has a variety of causes, including childcare closures, retirements, extensive training programs, medical or personal absences, household COVID cases, and close contact quarantining.
With unpredictable attendance each day, our Operations team carefully shuffles schedules to adjust for the most coverage and best possible service with the available staffing. Regretfully, we are often too shorthanded to avoid additional daily cuts. In an effort to provide more reliable service to customers and temporary relief to our dedicated Operators, we will be making additional service cuts, effective Sunday, January 16, until further notice.
This will help us provide a more reliable, predictable service, and prevent additional stressors to our workforce. Reductions like these are extremely difficult, but are unfortunately necessary, and we hope to return to our regular service soon.
We know our community relies on us to get back and forth to work and to school, to get to important appointments, to take care of household errands, and to visit with family and friends. We want to do everything we can to help you, our passengers, understand how these changes will impact your travel, and to make sure you have the most accurate service information we can provide.
Making these additional service reductions should reduce the number of missing trips each day and improve the reliability of our Trip Planner and website schedules. You can continue to rely on these tools, along with our electronic kiosks and real-time departure information, to plan your lives around.
Along with reductions put in place on October 4, these additional changes include new reductions to Weekday Daytime and Weekday Evening service on the 1/100 Yellow, the 7/70 Grey, the 14 Navy, and the 50 Green Hopper. Three of four SafeRides vehicles will be in operation.
There will also be reduced frequencies to Weekend service on both Saturdays and Sundays. These changes affect the 20 Red Saturday, the 50 Green Saturday, the 70 Grey Saturday, the 100 Yellow Saturday, the 130 Silver Saturday, the 180A Lime Saturday, and the 220 Illini Saturday.
Sunday reductions affect the 100 Yellow Sunday Late Night, the 130 Silver Sunday, the 120 Teal Sunday, and the 220 Illini and Illini Limited Sunday.
Passengers should check our updated online route schedules for scheduled trip times, and use our online Trip Planner to replan trips, and learn how these reductions will impact your travel.
A full listing of all trips that have been removed from service is available on our website at https://mtd.org/maps-and-schedules/reroutes/.
We have recently revised our Maps & Schedules book and bus shelter signage to reflect many of the existing cuts, but the most up-to-date information can always be found using real-time tools and digital schedules on our website. Updated, individual route schedules for the affected routes are also available upon request, and can be provided in PDF format.
We share in your disappointment and recognize your frustration, and we will continue working to overcome this shortage. In the meantime, we ask that our passengers please sign up for personalized service alerts at mtd.org/account to get updates in real-time. You can also follow us on social media (@rideMTD) or call 217.384.8188 for the latest information.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and continued ridership.
Reduced Frequencies
Effective January 16, 2022
Weekday Daytime
1 Yellow
- Select trips between Savoy Walmart and Champaign Walmart reduced between 8AM and 7PM
7 Grey
- Select trips between Parkland College and Urbana Walmart reduced between 2:30PM and 7PM
14 Navy
- Select trips between Illinois Terminal and Carle at the Fields reduced throughout the day
- Service to Mullikin & Curtis Meadow affected
Weekday Evening
50 Green Hopper
- Select trips between SunnyCrest & Parkland College reduced between 7:57PM and 11:22PM
- Last Hopper trip from Sunnycrest to Illinois Terminal at 10:57PM does not operate
70 Grey
- Select trips between Parkland College and Urbana Walmart reduced between 7PM and 11:15PM
100 Yellow
- Select trips between Savoy Walmart and Champaign Walmart reduced between 6:50PM and 11:50PM
- Select trips between Silver & Vawter and Champaign Walmart reduced throughout the day
Saturday Daytime
20 Red
- Select trips between Silver & Vawter and Champaign Walmart reduced throughout the day
50 Green
- Select trips between Orchard Downs and Round Barn Rd. reduced between 7:15AM and 5:01PM
- Some service to Plastipak does not operate
70 Grey
- Select trips between Urbana Walmart and Round Barn Rd. reduced between 7:45AM and 6:08PM
100 Yellow
- Select trips between Savoy Walmart and Champaign Walmart reduced between 7AM and 6PM
130 Silver
- Select trips between Vet Med or PAR and Lincoln Square reduced between 3:45PM and 9PM
180 Lime
- 180A Lime does not operate
- Some service to DSC & Caterpillar affected
Saturday Evening & Late Night
70 Grey
- Select trips between Urbana Walmart and Round Barn Rd. reduced between 6PM and 11:30PM
220 Illini
- Select trips between PAR and Lincoln & Killarney reduced throughout the day
- Select trips between PAR and Lincoln & Killarney reduced between 12AM and 5AM
Sunday Daytime
100 Yellow
- Select trips between Savoy Walmart and Champaign Walmart reduced between 9:58AM and 6:30PM
120 120
- Select trips between Orchard Downs and Illinois Terminal reduced between 8:50AM and 5:30PM
130 Silver
- Select trips between Vet Med or PAR and Lincoln Square reduced between 9:26AM and 7:40PM
220 Illini Limited
- Select trips between ARC and Lincoln & Killarney reduced throughout the day
Sunday Evening & Late Night
100 Yellow
- Select trips between Lot E-14 and Champaign Walmart reduced between 6:46PM and 3AM
220 Illini
- Select trips between PAR and Lincoln & Killarney reduced throughout the evening
- Select trips between PAR and Lincoln & Killarney reduced between 12AM and 3AM
Reduced Frequencies Effective October 4, 2021
Weekday Daytime
1 Yellow Hopper
- 1 Yellow Hopper frequencies reduced throughout the day
2C Red
- Three early morning trips do not operate
5 Green
- 5 Green Hopper frequencies reduced throughout the day
10 Gold & Gold Hopper
- Operates every 60 minutes in some cases
12 Teal
- Frequencies reduced throughout the day
16A Pink
- Does not operate
22 Illini
- Frequencies reduced throughout the day
- Some service to Oak & Anthony does not operate
24 Link
- Frequencies reduced throughout the day
Weekday Evening & Late Night
130 Silver
- Frequencies reduced throughout the night