LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue University will again subsidize passes to access CityBus’s off-campus routes this fall as university transit undergoes a facelift more than a year after the bus company said it would discontinue free off-campus service to Purdue affiliates.
Semester passes for the Greater Lafayette company’s buses, which serve much of the urban and residential area on both sides of the Wabash River, will cost Purdue students, faculty and staff $49 for the semester. Purdue will pay the remaining $50 on the $99 passes, according to an email sent to Purdue affiliates last week.
Once available, the email says, passes can be claimed through an online portal. “More information will be shared on how and when to access bus passes over the coming weeks,” the email reads. Students will log in with their Purdue email addresses.
The new price reflects negotiation between Purdue and CityBus after the university provided 7,000 passes free of charge to affiliates last school year, leaving CityBus to cover the remaining 11,000 passes used by Purdue students and employees.
The overflow demand, which CityBus CEO Bryan Smith said he nor Purdue could forecast when the deal was struck last August, cost CityBus more than $1 million. Under the new arrangement, Purdue will subsidize up to 10,000 passes, leaving CityBus to cover $50 per pass for any purchased beyond that threshold.
“Last year, we didn’t know the number of unique users,” Smith said, because of the fact that previously, Purdue users only had to show their university ID to board. “Last year helped us answer that question.”
The data collected by tracking each time a CityBus passenger verified their pass to a driver showed that 5,000 to 6,000 Purdue “affiliates” used the busing service at least once in any given week, and that 9,000 rode a CityBus at least once a month.
Most of these, Smith said, were likely off-campus riders, because drivers often wouldn’t require verification on campus loops. Those loops will no longer be operated by CityBus.
New campus transit system to launch
The CityBus passes will no longer provide the four Purdue campus loops the company ran for years.
Instead, Purdue chose the Chicago-based SP+ Corp. for on-campus transit out of eight bidders in April, including CityBus, ultimately awarding a $7.8 million, three-year contract to SP+.
The email said SP+ will run three fixed weekday routes, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. while classes are in session, making stops similar to the terminated CityBus loops.
The new busing company will also provide an on-demand shuttle service with designated pick-up and drop-off locations, operating Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to midnight, with availability during limited hours Sunday.
Purdue’s email said the new campus transit system “expands transportation to previously unserved locations, results in less wait time and allows riders to request on-demand transit on an as-needed basis.”
SP+ will soon roll out an app where riders can access route info and track buses and shuttles. A Purdue web page explaining the changes said the app would be available “by late July or August.”
Set for the long haul?
The latest deal with CityBus will run only for the fall semester, at which point Purdue told the company it will reevaluate terms based on demand.
The arrangements of the last two summers came after CityBus unexpectedly announced it could no longer offer free off-campus service to Purdue in April 2024. Demand for those routes had risen, the company said at the time, while public funding remained stagnant.
Purdue announced in August 2024 that it would subsidize $74 per CityBus pass users bought but reversed course in the face of unknown demand at the time, Smith said, ultimately landing on the 3,500 passes per semester it fully guaranteed last year. That limit was reached within two days of classes starting last fall.
Smith said CityBus will be able to precisely peg demand for off-campus busing this fall, as the company shifts to a tap-based pass verification system like Apple Pay, allowing rider count to be tracked by the route.
CityBus Route 23, which runs from Purdue’s campus to Downtown Lafayette, will remain free for all users, regardless of Purdue affiliation.
Israel Schuman can be reached at ischuman@gannett.com or on X @ischumanwrites.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue to again subsidize CityBus passes off campus; new company will run campus loops
Reporting by Israel Schuman, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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