Snow Routes Planned for 2/2/22 - Update: Service to Be Suspended

Update 8AM: Due to worsening weather conditions, SMTD will suspend service with the last trip leaving the transfer center at 9am and last trip out of junction circle at 8:45am. All passengers should catch the next available bus if they need SMTD transportation home today. Further announcements about Thursday service will be made later today.

Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) announced today they plan to begin operating on snow routes Wednesday morning in anticipation of several inches of snow predicted overnight by the National Weather Service. Staff will assess conditions early in the morning to determine the need for any delays or cancellations, but SMTD will begin the day on snow routes.

SMTD’s snow routes can be seen at smtd.org/snow . Some snow routes can be significantly different than regular routes. So, if residents must travel, SMTD encourages any riders to check the maps to make sure they can get to their route.

SMTD is also canceling its Urbanized Area Service to Chatham, Riverton, Rochester, and Sherman Wednesday. In addition to significant snowfall, forecasts call for substantial wind gusts which could lead to drifting snow, and SMTD anticipates those communities working to clear streets on Wednesday.

SMTD’s office on 9th Street will be closed to the public Wednesday with only operations staff reporting to work and administration employees equipped to work from home doing so.

As long as fixed route service is operating, scheduled Access Paratransit passengers will be picked up if vehicles can get to their buildings and sidewalks are passable.

SMTD will decide on Wednesday afternoon what Thursday service will look like in Springfield and in the surrounding Urbanized Area communities, and they caution passengers to only travel Wednesday if absolutely necessary.

SMTD to Resume Front Door Boarding, Fare Collection, and Night Service

Front Door Boarding Resumes March 8th; Fare Collection and Night Service Resume March 15th

 Springfield, IL – The Sangamon Mass Transit District (SMTD) announced today a return to normal operations later this month.  Some policies will remain.  Masks will still be required to ride for the forseeable future, a policy SMTD implemented last March and has since been made federal law through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and SMTD will continue the new cleaning frequency as a new part of standard operations.

 Front door boarding will resume on Monday, March 8th, in preparation for the resumption of fare collection the following Monday, March 15th.  Also on March 15th, SMTD will return to regular night service hours, which means buses will run hourly from 6pm to 11pm, with the last trip departing the Transfer Center at 10pm for its final run.  

 The only exception to the return of full service will be the urbanized area service to the communities of Chatham, Riverton, Rochester, and Sherman, which is scheduled to resume with new routes this summer.

 “Nearly a year ago, the pandemic caused us to reduce service significantly, alter how we clean and maintain our fleet, and implement a number of policies and products to protect our employees and our passengers,” said SMTD Managing Director Steve Schoeffel.

 March 17, 2020, SMTD reduced schedules to what is normally run on Saturdays, reduced Night Service, suspended urbanized area service to outlying communities, and suspended the collection of fares.  SMTD also created bus cleaner positions to significantly increase the frequency and thoroughness of the disinfecting of buses, and polymer barriers in driver compartments were added to the fleet to create some physical separation between bus operators and the riding public. 

 At the pandemic’s first peak in March, ridership fell to roughly one third of normal ridership.  Since then, ridership has rebounded to approximately 75% of pre-pandemic ridership.

 “Over time, we have been able to increase schedule frequency, open our office to the public, and begin to look at getting back to pre-pandemic service,” Schoeffel said.  “Now that the local positive test rate and hospitalizations have come down substantially and the vaccine has become more-readily available, we want to do what we can to get people back to work and help re-establish some desired normalcy.”

For schedule and fare information, visit SMTD’s website at SMTD.org and visit their Facebook page or follow on Twitter.