An extended Unitrans route will allow students and employees traveling back and forth between the health sciences district and the center of campus to ride the bus for free.
Unitrans' new A line, heading to and from south and east Davis, will make stops at Shields Library, the Silo, the Transportation and Parking Services office and parking lot 54, near the Health Sciences Area. Previously the line made its only campus stop at Memorial Union.
The new route opens Aug. 5.
Community members who get on and off the bus within campus limits will not have to pay for the ride.
"This is wonderful news for the campus with all the construction taking place at the Health Sciences area," said Ann Davies-Nesbitt, TAPS alternative transportation coordinator.
"Many employees and graduate students who have not been able to take Unitrans in the past will now be able to do so," she said.
Undergraduate students, who pay university fees for bus service, ride free on Unitrans throughout its routes. TAPS offers discounted Unitrans passes to employees and graduate students through the Transitpool program. A monthly Unitrans pass is $13. Each ride on the bus costs 75 cents.
The extended A route will be slightly altered for the first month it is in service because of construction on Shields Avenue, said Assistant General Manager Anthony Palmere. The bus will travel on Hutchison Drive and A Street, rather than Shields and California Avenues, through Sept. 5.
On its summer schedule, which will continue until fall quarter opens in late September, the A line runs hourly between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Once classes resume, it will make stops every half-hour between those at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., then hourly until 11 p.m.
In addition to the new A route stops, Unitrans has also announced it will offer free service on all lines during forecasted Spare the Air days.
The program, which encourages people to use alternative transportation when ozone air pollution is at its highest levels, is sponsored with the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District. The Spare the Air campaign continues through Sept. 22.
For more information about the Spare the Air program or the new A route, go to www.unitrans.com or call (530) 752-BUSS.