Why does Metro use 40 foot buses? Or run small buses on some routes?
This is a recurring question. Residents look out their window during midday, weekend or evening hours and see a small number of passengers scattered through a 40 ft. bus. The bus they see looks like a needlessly expensive way to provide transit service, and a ‘small bus’ feels like the right sized package. The simple answer to the question is that our ridership is too high; ridership during the peak exceeds the capacity of small buses. Transit systems in general, including Metro Transit, tailor their fleets to meet peak hour needs. The average ridership per hour in Madison is over 30 passengers per hour, making us the envy of our peers. During the AM and pm peak hours, we have standing loads on core routes and commuter routes.
