Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District


The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is a mass transit system that is part of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area in which property taxes are levied to support a local transit system operating buses and the Illinois Terminal intermodal facility in downtown Champaign. Known locally as "MTD," the term also applies to the Board of Trustees or to the administration and operations supported both by these taxes as well as other revenues, such as bus fares. At the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, which lies within the District, all 42,883 students pay a $59 transportation fee every semester in 2014–2015 in exchange for unlimited use of the bus services. The District currently levies about 28 cents of property taxes per $100 of assessed valuation. The seven members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Champaign County Board. Buses are produced by the Canadian company New Flyer and the American company Gillig. MTD introduced hybrid buses to its fleet in Fall 2009, and currently the vast majority of its buses are hybrid. Minibuses used for paratransit service, SafeRides service, and fixed route service, are cutaway vans with a Ford E series chassis.

Public transit before the MTD

In 1854 the first rail lines in the region were laid 2 miles west of Urbana by the Illinois Central Railroad. The city of Urbana initially wanted nothing to do with the new railroad economy, so a new city, originally named West Urbana, was created to help serve the needs of the railroad. In 1860 West Urbana was renamed Champaign, and subsequently developed into an important railroad town. The station served as a stopover on the way from New Orleans to Chicago, and vice versa. In 1909 this was expanded to also include service from Chicago to Jacksonville, Florida.
The first trolley service in the area was established in 1863, when the Urbana Railroad Company was created to link Urbana and Champaign. These first trolleys were drawn by horses or mules. By 1890, work had begun on an electrified trolley system under the auspices of William B. McKinley. At its peak, this system had as many as 20 routes, including a nighttime "Owl Service" linking Champaign and Urbana.
Interurban streetcar service was also supplied to the area by the Illinois Terminal Railroad Company, another brainchild of William McKinley. McKinley's scheme of selling electricity from the interurban system to the surrounding towns led to the founding of the Illinois Power and Light Company.
In 1901 the Illinois Motor Transit Company introduced a city bus system to the region, but they went bankrupt within the year. However, the inability of the trolley system to lay enough track to fully serve the area prompted the 1925 addition of another bus system by National City Bus Lines, a subsidiary of General Motors. In 1936, as was happening in other places across the nation, National City Bus Lines purchased the trolley system from the Illinois Power and Light Company and dismantled it. The last trolley operated on 10 November 1936. Within one month bus lines had become the dominant form of transportation in the city under the new name "Champaign-Urbana City Lines."
Ridership on the Champaign-Urbana City Lines was high, reaching 1 million passengers served in 1958. Like most of America however, buses in Champaign-Urbana became less popular with the advent of affordable automobiles. On November 17, 1970, P.E. Cherry, the manager of Champaign-Urbana City Lines, published an article in the Courier stating that declining ridership, aging buses, and a rising deficit would force the line to close. The Illinois Commerce Commission conducted a hearing on the petition to close the city lines and suggested that rather than close the lines, a referendum should be drafted to create a mass transit district.

History of the modern MTD

On November 24, 1970, a mere week after the lines looked to be closing, the referendum was approved and Thomas Evans was appointed the director of the new mass transit district. The new MTD began operation on August 2, 1971 for a fee of $0.30 per ride with free transfers on buses which allowed one to navigate the area using several different bus lines. On May 13, 1971 a federal grant was procured to help this both fledgling and historic transit district rework its fleet of buses, purchasing fifteen new buses and ten used buses from Peoria, Illinois. In 1973 the MTD expanded its routes to include the University, offering routes around the University and to the graduate housing complex. Fees for University students were at a reduced rate, paying only $0.10 per ride, or purchasing a $20 semester pass for unlimited rides.
In 1984 MTD received national recognition when it was chosen as the 7th best transportation system in America, outranking the systems provided by many larger cities across the country. In 1986 and 1994 it was the recipient of the American Public Transit Association's Outstanding Achievement Award.
In 1999 Illinois Terminal was created in downtown Champaign which serves as both a transit hub for the MTD and a connection between the MTD, Amtrak and intercity bus lines.
Today the MTD provides over 11 million rides per year. The current one-way bus fare is $1. Transfers are free and may be used to connect with another route at transfer points to complete a one-way trip. An annual bus pass can be purchased for $84. The annual pass allows unlimited rides. An all-day pass, good for either Saturday or Sunday, can be bought for $2. All University of Illinois students, faculty, and staff have unlimited access to all routes and services.

Fatal accidents

Prior to 2004, MTD never had an accident involving a fatality. Since 2004, there have been two fatal accidents involving pedestrians and MTD buses. Both cases involved University of Illinois students on campus:
After Channick's death, the governments of Champaign and Urbana, the University of Illinois, and MTD conducted the Campus Area Transportation Study, which made specific recommendations to improve bus safety on campus. As of December 2011, two of three proposed phases have been implemented.

Facilities

;Administration and Operations Offices
;Maintenance Department and Bus Garage
;Illinois Terminal
;Wright Street Transit Plaza
;Downtown Urbana Transfer Point

Bus routes

Bold – Main portion of route

Hopper interval – Including regular service, for example, 30 minute of yellow and 10 minute of YELLOWHopper means the first 10 and 20 buses are YELLOWhopper and then 30 bus is yellow.

Weekday Daytime Routes
Weekday Evening Routes
Weekday Late Night Routes U of I days only
Saturday Daytime Routes
Sunday Daytime & Late Night Routes
ImageBuilder and model nameModel yearLengthNumbers
Energy sourceNotes
New Flyer
D60LF		20010101-0112 Diesel
  • Used primarily on routes 12 Teal, 13 Silver, and 22 Illini.
  • 0111 is retired.
  • 6 units to be retired in 2020 and replaced by New Flyer XDE60s.
New Flyer D40LF20030313-0345 Diesel
  • Being retired; only 5 units remain in service
  • All units will be retired in summer 2020 and replaced with New Flyer XDE40s.
New Flyer DE60LFR20090913-0916 Diesel-Electric Hybrid
  • Feature Allison EP50 parallel hybrid system.
  • Used primarily on routes 12 Teal, 13 Silver, and 22 Illini.
Gillig BRT20090958-0962 Diesel-Electric Hybrid
  • Feature Allison EP40 parallel hybrid system.
  • MTD's first hybrid-electric buses, delivered spring 2009.
New Flyer DE40LFR20111162–1197 Diesel-Electric Hybrid
  • Feature optional roof fairing
  • Feature Allison EP40 parallel hybrid system.
  • Last New Flyer DE40LFR buses ever built
  • 1174 wrapped for Surface 51.
  • 1175 features green and yellow livery.
  • 1182 wrapped for Gies College of Business.
New Flyer XDE402012–20181346–1355, 1601–1612, 1713–1734, 1835-1837, 1938-1939 Diesel-Electric Hybrid
  • Replaced most New Flyer D40LF buses and all Eldorado EZ-Rider buses.
  • 1300 series feature Allison EP40 parallel hybrid system; 1600-1900 series feature BAE HybriDrive series hybrid system.
  • 1600-1900 series buses feature USB charging ports.
  • 1349, 1351, 1734, 1835-37 and 1938-39 feature all-LED headlights.
  • 1353 wrapped for Research Park
  • 1601 wrapped for Krannert Center
  • 1721 wrapped for OSF Urgo urgent care clinic.
  • 5 additional units to be delivered in 2020, to replace all remaining New Flyer D40LFs.
New Flyer XDE602020Diesel-Electric Hybrid
  • To be delivered in 2020.
New Flyer XHE602021Hydrogen Fuel Cell
  • To be delivered in 2021.
  • First commercial order of articulated hydrogen fuel cell buses in the United States.