Bus Service Begins to New YMCA In Southwest Champaign

It’s been nearly a year since officials with the Champaign County YMCA publicly asked for bus service from the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. Now, service to the Stephens Family Y at 2501 Fields South Drive in southwest Champaign begins on a limited basis, on Monday, Jan. 13.

Much of the service will come from a demand-response van. Riders can catch the van at the Country Fair Shopping Center, or call ahead for the van to stop at their door. The latter option is only available to people in the 334 West Direct service district in southwest Champaign. The 14 Navy bus will also provide limited service to the Y during rush-hours.

C-U Mass Transit spokesperson Jan Kijowski said bus service to the Stephens Family Y could expand to include evenings and weekends in the future.

“We’ll monitor things very carefully during these first several months, and hopefully be able to develop a fixed route come August, if everything works out as we hope it will, “ said Kikowski.

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District had held off on providing bus service to the Y, because the facility lies just outside district boundaries, in the rival Champaign South-West MTD.  The Champaign South-West does not provide bus service, but had formed in an attempt to block CU-MTD expansion into southwest Champaign. The CU-MTD’s decision to begin bus service to the YMCA came after reports that the Champaign South-West MTD was considering disbanding.