Eau Claire Transit
Eau Claire Transit buses at the temporary downtown transit center in June 2023
ParentCity of Eau Claire
Headquarters910 Forest Street
LocaleEau Claire, Wisconsin
Service areaEau Claire County, Wisconsin
Service typeBus Service, Paratransit (contracted)
HubsEau Claire Transit Center, Centennial Hall, Davies Center
Fleet22[1]
Annual ridership586,437 (2022)
Fuel typeBiodiesel, Hybrid diesel-electric
Websiteecbus.org

Eau Claire Transit is the provider of mass transportation in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. The system consists of fifteen core routes and is served by a fleet of 22 low-floored buses.[1] Service frequency varies from thirty minutes to one hour depending on the route and time of day. There is no service on Sundays or Saturday evenings.

An Eau Claire Transit bus in 2018

Routes

The Eau Claire Transit Center located in the downtown area is the beginning and end point for the majority of the bus routes. The only routes that do not layover at the center are those that directly serve the University.[2]

A main feature of the bus system is the interlining of routes, which means that the same bus can serve different routes at different times. For instance, the bus that runs on route 2 becomes route 12 (and vice versa) after stopping at the Transit Center at :15 and :45 minutes past each hour. Similarly, route 5 and route 15 share the same bus, as well as several other route pairs. However, not all routes interline with another one. Some of the longer routes have a lower frequency and layover at the Transit Center once per hour, either at :15 or :45.

Core routes

No. Route name Major Streets[note 1] Notes
1 Margaret & Mall Main St, Margaret St, Rudolph Rd, Fairfax St, London Rd, E. Hamilton Ave, Commonwealth Ave, Gateway Dr
2 Mt. Washington Water St, Menomonie St, Ferry St, Crescent Ave,
3 North High Putnam St, Birch St, Starr Ave, Western Ave, Runway Ave, Eddy Ln, Piedmont Rd Weekdays only, Airport service
4 Locust Lane Forest St, Birch St, River Prairie Dr, Seymour Rd, Hastings Way, Abby Hill Dr, Locust Ln, Morningside Dr Weekdays only
3/4 North High - Locust Lane Forest St, Birch St, Starr Ave, Western Ave, Piedmont Rd, Eddy Ln, Runway Ave, Locust Ln, Abby Hill Dr, Hastings Way, Pershing St Evenings & Saturdays
5 Rudolph Rd Harding Ave, Rudolph Rd, Golf Rd, London Rd
6 Putnam Heights & Mall Graham Ave, E. Hamilton Ave, Fairfax St, Golf Rd, Keystone Crs, Bullis Farm Rd, Gateway Dr, London Rd, Skeels Ave, Lexington Ave No evening service
7 West Clairemont Graham Ave, W. Clairemont Ave, Oak Ridge Dr, Craig Rd, Menomonie St, Water St
8 Folsom & Vine Madison St, 3rd St, Truax Blvd, Folsom St, Moholt Dr, Vine St, Oxford Ave
12 Delong Oxford Ave, Madison St, Vine St, Fairmont Ave, Cameron St, Whipple Ave, 5th Ave
15 West MacArthur W. MacArthur Ave, Stein Blvd, Eldorado Blvd, W. Hamilton Ave, Westover Rd
17 Altoona Galloway St, River Prairie Dr, Oak Leaf Way, 10th St, Bartlett Ave, Division St, Spooner Ave, Margaret St, Main St No evening service
18 Memorial High Main St, Highland Ave, Fenwick Ave, Fairfax St, E. Clairemont Ave, Keith St, Brackett Ave, Margret St
20 Westridge Center Madison St, Cameron St, Vine St, Folsum St, Moholt Dr, Whipple St, 5th Ave No evening service
21 Shopko Plaza W. MacArthur Ave, Eldorado Blvd, Craig Rd, International Dr, Sky Park Blvd, W. Hamilton Ave No evening service
  1. ↑ Sections of roads with more than two concurrent routes near the downtown area are generally omitted for conciseness.

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire routes

These routes have layovers in front of the Davies Center or Centennial Hall every 15–30 minutes rather than at the Transit Center. Route 9 does stop briefly at the Transit Center to enable transfers with the main network:

  • 9 Water St (Lower Campus, EC Transit Center, Downtown, and Pablo Center)
  • 19 Stein Blvd (Upper Campus, various student housing, and Bollinger Fields.)

During the evenings, both are consolidated into an expanded route 9 covering both upper and lower campus areas. There is also an hourly Saturday only service that focuses on connecting the UWEC campus with Oakwood Mall and other retail areas on the southeast side of the city.[3][4]

The university routes do not run during summer recess and have reduced service during winter break; there is no service on Sundays.

Other routes also serve parts of campus, 2 and 7 run on Water Street, while 15, 6, 7 and 21 pass campus on State Street. All city bus routes are free to UWEC students and faculty.[5]

Express routes

The agency operates three weekday express routes that have limited service with one trip daily. These routes primarily serve schools and other public entities.[6]

  • E1 (Career Development Center)
  • E10 (Mayo Clinic-Luther Hospital, Delong Middle School, Career Development Center)
  • E11 (South Middle School, Memorial High School)

Eau Claire Transit Center

Until 2021, Eau Claire Transit had been operating out of a 1985 transit center, which had been planned as a temporary location until a permanent transit center could be built. However, this arrangement lasted for 36 years. In 2018, the city was awarded a $5 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant for the project by the US Department of Transportation.[7][8]

The new transit center began construction on September 17, 2021, on the same site as the "temporary" 1985 transit center. In order to provide a transfer facility during construction, a temporary facility was built at South Farwell Street and Gray Street, just east of the current site, on a surface parking lot. This site opened on September 2, and will be in use until the new transit center is complete in summer 2024. This site and the new transit center will both have dedicated bus bays for each route, a first for Eau Claire.[7]

The new transit center will feature restrooms, a heated and air conditioned lobby, offices for transit supervisors and retail space on the ground floor, two stories of parking above, and three stories of affordable housing on top. The 50 to 60 apartments above are intended to be “workforce housing,” meaning the rent will be affordable for those making between 80% and 120% of the median county income. The city originally partnered with the developer Merge Urban Development Group on the project, however the developer backed out in late 2021 and Impact Seven, a Rice Lake-based nonprofit that specializes in developing and managing affordable housing, took over. Due to this change, the housing will be less affordable, but still below the area median income.[8]

The new transit center will be complete in summer 2024, however the whole project, including parking and housing, will not be finished until 2025. Due to the high construction costs in 2021 and 2022, the city must contribute $9.55 million to the project instead of the original $1.25 million. An estimate from 2019 had estimated the value of the project at $23.5 million.[9][10][11]

Ridership

RidershipChange over previous year
2013[12] 1,072,123n/a
2014[13] 1,043,917Decrease2.63%
2015[14] 940,074Decrease9.95%
2016[15] 937,560Decrease0.27%
2017[16] 928,515Decrease0.96%
2018[17] 964,748Increase3.9%
2019[18] 913,567Decrease5.31%
2020[19] 458,780Decrease49.78%
2021[20] 458,980Increase0.04%
2022[21] 586,437Increase27.77%

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Services". Eau Claire Transit Department. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Maps, Trip Planning & Schedules - City of Eau Claire, Wisconsin". www.eauclairewi.gov. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  3. ↑ "UWEC Routes". www.eauclairewi.gov. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  4. ↑ "UWEC Routes - Saturdays". www.eauclairewi.gov. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Buses and Shuttles". Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Express Routes". www.eauclairewi.gov. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Groundbreaking ceremony held for new Eau Claire transit center". September 18, 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Topping It off: New Downtown Transit Center's Private Component Yet to be Finalized". October 11, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Temporary bus transfer center opening Thursday in Eau Claire". September 2021.
  10. ↑ "Council OKs millions more for transfer center". March 22, 2022.
  11. ↑ Walleser, Melanie (September 6, 2023). "Eau Claire Transit to move services to new transfer center in August 2024". Retrieved January 16, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "2013 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "2014 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "2015 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  15. ↑ "2016 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  16. ↑ "2017 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "2018 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  18. ↑ "2019 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  19. ↑ "2020 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  20. ↑ "2021 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
  21. ↑ "2022 Annual Agency Profile" (PDF).
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