The Blue Line busses will continue to roll across campus at least until summer. The University of Memphis has extended the contract with Groome Transportation services, the operators of the Blue Line.
The contract was set to end Feb. 28, 2017, but U of M officials said they extended the contract in anticipation of an upcoming campus event. It is unclear how much money the U of M will pay to Groome for the additional months of service they will provide.
The Blue Line is needed for the upcoming National Conference on Undergraduate Research, which will be hosted by the U of M from April 6 to 8, said Tommy Miller, assistant director of Parking and Transportation Services.
“NCUR will bring roughly 4,000 people to the campus,” Miller said.
Groome, along with other transportation vendors, will have a part in getting those people around the campus, according to Miller. The conference mission is to promote undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity.
It’s unclear if the university intends to renew the contract with Groome or not. A decision like that won’t be known until closer to the summer, according to Miller. Even then, the process is to put out another bid for the service once the contract is up.
Last April the Helmsman reported that the Blue Line’s trips around campus had about 85 percent of its seats empty over the course of a week. In 2015 the university paid Groome Transportation nearly $725,000 for the shuttle services. Groome has been paid more than $2.3 million since the U of M signed the contract in 2012, according to the Helmsman report. It’s estimated that anywhere from 1,500 to 2,300 people ride the Blue Line in a week.
“Most of that is Monday through Thursday because not as many people are here on Friday,” Miller said.
The Blue Line runs from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on those days, but only from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. Since 2013 the number of passengers for the service has gone down each year, from 76,881 riders in 2013 to 53,486 in 2015, according to the Helmsman report.
“With six busses we’re pretty small compared to other schools that might have 40 or more buses,” Miller said, though things have picked up a bit for one particular route. “Our Park route picks up as many people as our main bus now.”
Many may not use the Blue Line, but for those that do, it could be the only way for them to get to campus.
“Yes, I’d love to see the buses with eight to 15 people on them at a time instead of threes and fours, but for those three and four, that’s their ride,” Miller said in the Helmsman report last April.
With the extension of the contract, the Blue Line will continue to be operated by Groome Transportation until at least the end of the spring 2017 semester.
A student exits the Blue Line bus on the University of Memphis campus. The school recently decided to move forward with a new contract with the bus service, despite many empty busses.
