Iowa City Transit Reduces Weekday Service Hours Due To Coronavirus

From the City of Iowa City:

March 27, 2020

Effective Monday March 30, 2020, Iowa City Transit will make temporary changes to its weekday service, including ending weekday service at 8 p.m. and providing hourly service on most routes using Saturday routes and schedules. Three “weekday” routes will also be added during peak times.

This temporary service reduction will help meet public health objectives while continuing to provide essential transportation to the community, and help ensure the health and safety of our employees and passengers by limiting the spread of COVID-19.

Iowa City is committed to providing essential transportation services to the community in this time of need, however we strongly encourage the public to stay home. If you must use transit, limit travel to those absolutely essential work, grocery, or healthcare trips.

Iowa City Transit will be maintaining the following routes on an hourly basis between 6 AM and 8 PM unless otherwise designated:

Oakcrest

• Last bus: 7 p.m.
• 30-min service during peak periods: 6 – 8:30 a.m. and 3 – 7 p.m.

Towncrest

• Last bus: 7:30 p.m.
• 30-min service during peak periods: 6 – 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Westwinds

• Last bus: 7:30 p.m.

Court Hill

• Last bus: 7:15 p.m.

Lakeside

• Last bus: 6:45 p.m.

Manville Heights

• Last bus: 7:45 p.m.

Broadway

• Last bus: 7:15 p.m.

North Dodge

• Last bus: 7 p.m.

Modified Westside Hospital

• Last bus: 6 p.m.
• Peak service only 6 – 9 a.m. and 3 - 6 p.m.

Westport Plaza

• Last bus: 6:30 p.m.
• Peak service only 6 – 8 a.m. and 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Modified Eastside Express

• Last bus: 7 p.m. Service leaves interchange on the hour
• Peak service only 6 – 8 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.

On Saturdays, there will be no deviation from the typical schedule.

Other measures taken to ensure the health and safety of employees and riders include temporary fare suspension, requiring passengers to board through the back door (unless mobility issues require front boarding), and maintaining our daily cleaning and disinfecting schedule. Effective Friday, March 27, 2020, drivers have been cordoned off from the rest of the bus to help ensure adequate social distancing. We ask the public to respect the boundary to ensure the health and safety of drivers.

Due to this temporary service reduction, Iowa City Transit’s real time planning tools and other third-party tools may not be updated immediately. We expect the Transit App and Bongo to reflect the updated routes as of Monday, but Google Maps/ Google Transit may take several weeks to reflect the updated schedule.

Further changes to service are possible as we continue to navigate through this pandemic. Please visit www.icgov.org/transit or call 319-356-5151 for the most updated information on or to access the current transit schedule.

For all Iowa City COVID-19 news updates and resources, visit www.icgov.org/Coronavirus.

This press release was produced by the City of Iowa City/a>. The views expressed here are the author’s own.