Blacksburg Transit has altered bus routes to help riders navigate Blacksburg more easily.
Over the summer, BT made a variety of changes it believes will eliminate of overcrowding on buses, according to Virginia Tech Alternative Transportation Manager Deborah Freed.
“Routes that Blacksburg Transit has created will help the most heavily used bus routes,” Freed said.
For the past few years, BT has been unable to alleviate its problems in those areas experiencing the most congestion, but it will now be in a position to address these problem locations, said BT spokeswoman Fiona Rhodes.
For example, BT has added Progress Street and University City Boulevard to its routes in an attempt to better serve the Toms Creek area, which is densely populated by students.
The Progress Street route will run every 10 minutes between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. during the week. University City Boulevard is in operation every 10 minutes between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. After 6:30 p.m., the service will be offered every 30 minutes until 10:15 p.m.
In addition to these routes, changes were made to Toms Creek A, now simply called “Toms Creek.” Tom’s Creek B was renamed University City Boulevard and University Mall Shuttle is now known as U-Mall Shuttle.
The modifications go further than simple name changes, however. Freed said alterations to routes will, for one, allow more opportunities for buses to act as trippers. If a regular bus cannot hold all of its passengers, the tripper bus will join the bus on its route.
“This will control the number of pass-bys and get students to campus in a timely manner,” she said.
Rhodes also said more students will be able to ride the BT because of its increase in routes and frequency.
While these route changes may be a challenge to adjust to at first, Freed said she thinks riders will find them beneficial.