DATE: August 05, 2008

CONTACT: George Smith, (864) 656-5827
smithg@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu

Clemson announces changes to CAT bus routes

CLEMSON — In order to operate the bus system more efficiently, Clemson University and Clemson Area Transit are changing several bus routes. These changes include consolidating routes on campus and phasing out two routes that have low ridership.

The biggest change is the creation of the new TIGER Route on campus, which will essentially combine the existing Orange, Blue, Lightsey Bridge and Campus Connector routes. This new route will loop around campus, connecting the east and west parts of campus, with seven buses running at eight-minute intervals along the route from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday during the semester. After 5 p.m. on weekdays and after 6 p.m. on weekends, two buses will run every 30 minutes until 3 a.m.

“We have to operate within a budget so we looked at ways to increase efficiency and improve both on-campus and off-campus routes before considering any service cuts,” said George Smith, associate vice president for student affairs.

The Maverick Route, an express route to Central will be eliminated. Transit service will continue to Central through extended service on the existing Red Route. The Bridge Route, an express route for Bridge students attending Tri-County Tech will be removed from the Clemson Area Transit route system and will be replaced with van service, provided by the university, so students will continue to have transportation from Clemson to Tri-County Tech. The Anderson 4U route was left unchanged.

“The routes changed were on the ones with the least number of riders, the ones that will have the least impact on our students and others utilizing the CAT service,” Smith said.

Clemson University contributes funding to CAT from a transit fee paid by students, which totals $1.2 million this year. Last year’s contribution of $1.65 million, which included operating and capital costs, included $550,000 from parking revenues. But this year, parking fee money will be used for maintaining parking lots and operating costs for parking services.

“Budgets are tight for everyone this year, and we needed to allocate revenue generated by parking fees to deferred and routine maintenance need in our parking areas and dedicate the revenue generated by the transit fee to the transit service. We simply could not afford to continue funding transit services to the extent that we were with parking revenues,” Smith said.

The university’s funding for CAT is the largest contribution from any single entity to the CAT system.