Community · November 21, 2024
City, County Transit and University Sign a Five-Year Porter Loop Agreement
The deal keeps the shuttle fare-free and on 12-minute headways through June 2029, adds a growing-season stop at the University Farm, and splits the $1.14 million yearly cost three ways.
The City of Porter Falls, Porter County Transit and UW–Porter Falls have signed a five-year agreement to run the Porter Loop shuttle through June 2029. The Town–Gown Council recommended it at its meeting Wednesday, and the mayor and the chancellor signed it at the same table. The previous agreement had been renewed one year at a time since 2019, and each spring brought the same argument about who would pay for it.
The Loop runs two routes linking campus, the residence halls, the Depot District and Cedar Bluff, every 12 minutes on weekdays during the academic year. It carried about 412,000 trips last year.
What the agreement does:
- Splits the cost. The Loop costs about $1.14 million a year to run. The university pays 58 percent from segregated fees, the city 30 percent and Porter County Transit 12 percent. Increases are capped at 3 percent a year unless all three parties agree to more.
- Keeps it fare-free for anyone with a Porter Card.
- Protects the 12-minute headway on both routes when classes are in session.
- Adds a farm stop. Starting next spring, an hourly weekday stop at the University Farm during the growing season.
- Renews the student bus pass, so students keep riding city routes free with their Porter Card through the bus pass program.
“Every person on that shuttle is somebody who isn’t circling Main Street looking for a place to park. That is worth real money to this city, and now we’ve written down how much.”
— Mayor Ruth Ellingboe
During public comment, two Founders Triangle residents asked for a stop nearer the Ninth Street apartments, where many students rent. Sonia Albrecht, the county transit manager, said a stop there is under study and could be added next fall without changing the agreement.
Live bus positions are in the shuttle tracker in MyPorter. Riders who need door-to-door service can use accessible shuttle booking, which the agreement also funds.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. The Porter Loop, the city, the transit agency, the mayor and this agreement are invented; there is no real shuttle to catch.