Although many businesses suffered from the nation’s economic downfall, Madison Metro announced Tuesday its 2008 fixed-route ridership was the highest yearly ridership since 1979.
Additionally, from September 2008 through the end of December 2008, University of Wisconsin students used their free Associated Students of Madison bus passes just over 1 million times on the Madison Metro transit, a 7 percent increase from the same time period in 2007, according to Margaret Bergamini, ASM student bus pass program advisor.
According to a release issued by Madison Metro, the annual Metro ridership for all of 2008 was about 13.4 million riders, a 6 percent increase from the 12.7 million riders in 2007.
The highest yearly rider count was just under 14 million riders in 1979.
“In the summer, the gas prices went up a lot, so that drove a lot of our commuters onto the bus,” Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch said.
Even though gas prices decreased, Rusch said the tight economy caused many riders to continue commuting via bus.
Rusch added the Unlimited Ride Pass program is a great contributor to the Metro income.
Currently, students and staff at UW, Edgewood College and Madison Area Technical College, and those employed by the City of Madison, UW Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital and most recently Meriter Hospital are part of the program, Rusch said.
The UW student program is run through ASM, which forms a contract with Madison Metro, negotiating a specific bulk of metro tickets to purchase, Rusch said. He added though Madison Metro wants to offer the program to smaller businesses in the future, the program is only available to businesses that purchase more than 750 tickets.
At UW, each time a student swipes a bus ticket on Metro transit, ASM is charged 92 cents, according to Rusch. He said the expense is a bargain compared to the $1.50 Metro riders usually pay per ride.
Bergamini said for the 2008 calendar year, ASM bus passes were used about 2.6 million times. The number, however, does not include any rides on routes 80, 81, 82, 84 or 85 buses.
“During the 2008 calendar year, 2,390,656 rides were taken on (the) campus circulators, the Routes 80-85, by visitors, staff, faculty and students,” Bergamini said.
Currently, UW has a multimillion-dollar contract with Madison Metro, according to Bergamini. When UW first became part of the Metro program in the 1990s, Metro buses were not required to travel through campus. UW pays to have campus circulator buses — the 80, 81, 82, 84 and 85 — run on campus during the day and late at night. The entire program costs approximately $1.6 million per year.
Bergamini said more than 26,000 passes were collected by students for the fall 2008 semester.
Students pay $20 in segregated fees to help pay for part of the UW contract with Metro, Rusch added.
Carl Fergus, vice chair of Student Services Finance Committee, said the campus buses are a beneficial way to commute around the UW campus.
“I think it allows students who don’t have access to a car … (to commute) for free,” Fergus said.
