DOTS ridership increases for fourth straight year

DOTS officials announced an increase in Shuttle-UM bus ridership for the fourth straight year due to what officials said was the development of more affordable housing along Route 1.

A report by the Department of Transportation Services released last week showed a 12-percent increase in ridership as a whole — DOTS estimates bus services saw an increase in ridership from 2,340,828 in the 2008 fiscal year to 2,627,029 in 2009.
The study also noted a 21-percent increase in ridership just on evening routes.

These increases, DOTS officials say, are partly due to the expanding housing options on Route 1 and the convenience of bus routes.

“These apartments offer affordable and close housing, resulting in more people who are interested in using bus transportation,” said Beverly Malone, DOTS’ assistant to the director. “Also, gas prices made many people give it a try. They realize how convenient it is to keep using it.”

In an effort to meet the growing needs of students, several changes were made to the DOTS shuttle bus lines this year — the Silver Line was nixed, the Orange Line was shifted to run downtown and a new Green line was added.

These decisions are made with the assistance of a group of student representatives from the Graduate Student Government, the Student Government Association and the Residence Hall Association.

The students advise the department on what DOTS can do to best serve students.Officials hoped that by giving the students what they want, ridership would continue to grow.

“Hopefully, what we are seeing is that students want these services and when they are provided, they are riding more,” DOTS Director David said.

Student leaders said serving their constituents is not always easy but is always important.

“This is what the students wanted and we did it,” said SGA president Steve Glickman, who serves on the student advisory board. “At the same time, we still get complaints. There is always stuff to improve on.”

Senior sociology major Edith Agbanyim rides the busses much more often than she used to because she said the changes to the Purple Line made getting around the campus easier.

“The routes are definitely more convenient,” Agbanyim said. “I can now ride the Purple Line straight to [the Stamp Student Union] for events. It gets me to Route 1 and to campus.”

Malone said DOTS is planning to add longer buses to accommodate more student riders. The current buses are 35 feet long, and the new buses will be 40.

“The seat configuration will change to allow for more standing space,” Malone said.

DOTS officials were unsuprised by the jump in ridership.

“We’ve seen a steady growth for the last six or seven years,” Allen said.

DOTS determines the number of people utilizing shuttle buses annually by counting the number of riders on Shuttle-UM buses from the beginning of the fiscal year in July to late September — not the academic year — and compared those figures to the same period of time the year before.

redding@umdbk.com