Oct. 4—EAU CLAIRE — City bus routes focused on UW-Eau Claire would run later on weeknights and Saturdays in 2023 under a new transit contract currently being drafted.

After the city's Transit Commission last month gave a positive recommendation to expanded service for university routes, the city's legal staff is preparing a contract for the City Council to consider before the end of 2022.

Pending final approval from the city and university, the additional hours for that route would go into effect for UW-Eau Claire's spring semester, according to Tom Wagener, who is in the process of retiring from Eau Claire Transit. (Wagener, former transit manager, is staying on staff through part of this month to train his successor, Tina Deetz, who was promoted to transit manager on Sept. 19.)

Running buses later on campus and in spots where many students work and live was requested by the UW-Eau Claire student government.

"They were the initiators of the proposal," Wagener said.

Rossellin Gaitan, current student body president, said there has been discussion since 2021 on extending hours for the bus service.

"It's something students have been asking for," she said.

Currently the last bus leaves Davies Center at 10:30 p.m. on weeknights, but the proposal would extend that by a half-hour.

The frequency of bus service would also increase after 5:30 p.m. on weekdays for that route. Currently a bus will reach a stop every hour, but the improved service would change that to every 30 minutes.

On Saturdays, a bus that connects campus to Oakwood Mall and a few other shopping destinations runs from noon to 6 p.m. But the proposal will extend that to 11 p.m.

A new Saturday route would also be added to serve campus and the Pablo Center at the Confluence, running every 40 minutes from noon until 11:30 p.m.

Gaitan noted that the boost in service would be good not only for people wanting to shop and attend events on nights and weekends, but also the many college students who work late shifts in the service industry.

"A majority of the people who work in the mall are college students or younger," she said, speaking from personal experience as an employee there.

Beyond making it safer for student workers to get a ride home at night, Gaitan said she hopes the expanded busing is utilized by other community members as well.

UW-Eau Claire students get unlimited use of city buses by showing their Blugold ID cards. Eau Claire Transit provides that service via a contract with the university. Currently, each student pays about $28 per semester in student fees toward that contract, according to the university's website.

University students currently account for nearly 40% of Eau Claire Transit's ridership year-round, but they amount to about 50% of ridership specifically while classes are in session, Wagener said.

That proportion of university ridership compared to general passengers has been higher lately due to the latter being down, Wagener said. However, he's seeing overall ridership increasing recently with the rising price of gasoline.

"We typically do see an increase in ridership," Wagener said of times when fuel prices have remained high.