The campus has a brand new fleet of transit buses. The buses began serving the campus over the weekend, operating on the summer route schedule.
The new fleet of campus buses, which will continue using the name “the T,” included twenty vehicles sporting the university’s school colors, a checkerboard pattern, and Smokey. The buses are equipped with USB charging stations, real-time GPS tracking to monitor their location and arrival time, and bicycle racks. Riders may track their buses on the schools Transloc site, though the GPS tracking will be integrated into the UT mobile app within the month. Route updates and service changes also will be available through the UT app once the T transit system is fully integrated.
All of the buses are accessible to passengers with disabilities.
First Transit was selected as the campus’s new transit system operator in the fall after a comprehensive campus transit survey and a competitive bid process involving various types of transit organizations. All of the buses were manufactured in California specifically for the university. Each bus runs on the highest level of biodiesel fuel, and outputs a much lower amount of soot emissions than the campus’s previous buses.
For more information on the new T transit system, visit the website.