Metro Transit operates a bus service throughout the City of Madison, Wisconsin, United States and most of its immediate suburbs, including the City of Middleton, Fitchburg, Maple Bluff, Shorewood Hills, Sun Prairie, Verona, and a small portion of McFarland. System-wide, fixed route ridership was 13,385,628 in 2018. Metro Transit also provides supplemental transit services to some Madison middle and high schools. Several schools have switched to yellow buses in 2019. These routes are open to the general public, but have been designed to provide additional services during peak school times. Metro Transit also serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, Eagle Heights University apartments, and some off-campus residential areas, via routes 80, 81, 82, and 84. The "80 routes" are free of charge.
Metro also connects with suburban mass transit services, such as the Monona Lift/Monona Express and Sun Prairie Shared Taxi Shuttle.
History
Before the city of Madison established a public transit agency, bus service in the city was operated by a private firm, the Madison Bus Company. After the company's revenues fell and the quality of service declined in the 1960s, the city agreed to purchase the Madison Bus Company, with the acquisition taking effect on May 1, 1970.
Madison Metro's routes were dramatically overhauled on July 19, 1998. Previously, all routes had passed through Capitol Square, making downtown the only interchange point for cross-town travel. The 1998 changes redesigned the entire network around four newly-created "transfer points" on the north, east, south, and west sides of the city. The number of routes nearly doubled, from 23 to 43. Additionally, while the old routes had been indicated with letters, the new routes were given numbers to illustrate that they had no connection to the previous network. This transfer point system had been proposed as early as 1970, while the city was in the process of acquiring the bus company, by city council candidate Audrey Parkinson.
On June 11, 2023, the route network was overhauled to one with fewer routes and more frequent service. The four transfer points were eliminated from the network, The change has had a mixed reception; some have praised the redesign for more frequent service with less transfers, while others have criticized the redesign for eliminating service where the elderly, disabled, and low-income populations used to be able to ride the bus.
Bus rapid transit
Madison Metro is also creating a bus rapid transit system, slated to open in late 2024. Buses will arrive on BRT lines every 5-15 minutes on weekdays.
Route network
The transit network focuses on point-to-point service with some routes having different destinations but sharing the same core segments. Many routes serve downtown Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Madison where transit usage is high.
The vast majority of service updates reflected in this section went into effect in June 2023. Significant changes include the restructuring of the main route network, including the discontinuation of the previous transfer point system, and the reintroduction of lettered routes replacing the previous numbering system. Although a small amount of weekday commuter routes remain numbered for administrative reasons. The University of Wisconsin circulator network was largely unaffected by the changes and retain its previous numbers/ routes.
Regular routes
All routes in the table below run daily with varying service levels given the time/day. For example, route B runs every 15 minutes on weekdays, but every 30 minutes during evenings and weekends.
Weekday peak-only routes
Sun Prairie circulator service
Madison Metro provides two local bus routes within the City of Sun Prairie. Both routes run on a looping circulator system beginning and ending at the Sun Prairie Park and Ride.
S O'Keeffe Ave, Main St, Bristol St, Tower Dr, Windsor Ave, Grand Ave (anti-clockwise loop) (daily)
W Grand Ave, Main St, US 151 (no stops), Windsor Ave, Bird St, O'Keeffe Ave (clockwise loop) (weekdays)
UW–Madison campus buses
All routes in this section are fare free. Operating costs are paid by Associated Students of Madison, UW Transportation Services, and University Housing. When UW–Madison is out of session, route 80 and 84 service is reduced and routes 81 and 82 do not run.
80 Memorial Union - Eagle Heights (weekday, weekends, and late night)
81 Park, Broom, Johnson/Gorham Loop(s) (evening and late night)
82 Observatory, Breese Loop(s) (evening and late night)