1972 headquarters 1101 millmont street charlottesville virginia locale charlottesville virginia service area university of virginia and surrounding areas service type bus service routes 8 fleet 34 fuel type biodiesel website uts university transit service uts began in 1972 when fifteen student drivers started a pilot program with four rented buses at the university of virginia uva in charlottesville virginia . today uts has a fleet of more than 30 buses and 140 drivers serving the uva community . uts serves more than 3 million passengers per year and traverses the university of virginia central grounds university of virginia health system and housing areas . uts also provides chartered services for public and private events . contents 1 history of uts 2 service provided 2.1 routes 2.2 types of service 2.3 charters 2.4 connecting transit services 3 fleet information 4 administration 4.1 student management 4.2 supervisor training 4.3 budget 5 references history of uts edit the university transit bus system began in 1972 at the same time as the introduction of parking fees at uva . citation needed the bus system alleviated parking congestion on the central grounds and provided an alternative to individual car usage . the first fleet consisted of four rented buses but these were replaced by uts own fleet in november 1972 . 1 from the start students provided most of the work force 15 students and 3 full time drivers . at first service was provided monday friday 7 30am 12 30am citation needed with the first route running from copeley hill apartments to scott stadium . a gate preventing access to the university law school was removed in order to allow for bus traffic . eventually service was expanded to include the rugby grady neighborhood a popular student housing area . citation needed charter services were available from uts first days of operation . in 1972 bus passes were required and cost 7.50 per semester . students had to purchase these passes separately from parking permits . on the first full day of service 3 300 passengers rode the new university buses . uts provided additional equipment to accommodate standing passengers . in 1979 the service was extended to include a weekend service after a student referendum to raise the comprehensive transportation fee by 5 . by march 1979 uts had three routes and 16 buses . talks began in 1979 concerning the combination of uts and cts . citation needed service provided edit routes edit the university transit service designed routes based on thorough research to provide specific service to diverse groups of passengers . the following are the seven university transit service routes 2 3 northline connector university loop green route stadium hospital shuttle shs central grounds shuttle cgs special route colonnade shuttle hereford i.r.c. express hxp the rider mobile app will show the estimated arrival time of each bus according to the gps tracking system . types of service edit the university transit service operates at different service levels dependant on the needs of the students and staff who use the service and the availability of various campus access points . 4 charters edit the university transit service offers charter services to accommodate the special transportation needs of various academic groups and affiliates of the university of virginia . uts charters also participates heavily in major events at the university of virginia such as graduation home football and basketball games and the annual foxfield races . connecting transit services edit university transit service uts works closely with charlottesville area transit and jaunt . the university provides an annual subsidy for the charlottesville free trolley route that connects the downtown mall with central grounds . 5 recently the university signed an agreement with the city to provide a subsidy to allow employees and students with uva identification free transit on city buses . this open ridership program allows access to the newly restored greyhound and union station on west main street encouraging more people to travel by bus and rail . about 16 percent of the charlottesville s city bus riders display uva identification cards . 6 fleet information edit the current fleet consists of the following vehicles 7 unit year make height length width weight tons wheel chair lift 2236 2336 2436 1995 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 2636 2000 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 2736 2836 2936 2001 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 6136 6236 6336 2003 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 6436 6536 6636 2004 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 5136 5236 5336 5436 5536 2006 gillig phantom 10 35 8 13.5 front 9032 9132 9232 2007 gillig low floor 10 2 35 8 5 13 front 9332 9432 2009 gillig low floor 10 2 35 8 5 13 front 3252 2009 setra 417 12 8 46 8 5 13 rear 12132 12232 12332 12432 12532 12632 2012 gillig low floor 10 2 35 8 5 13 front 14132 14232 14332 14432 14532 2014 gillig low floor 10 2 35 8 5 13 front administration edit the university transit service employs full time and part time non student drivers but uva students make up the majority of its work force . the students are required to undergo a rigorous training process that satisfies the virginia department of motor vehicles requirement for a commercial driver s license and teaches them the different routes at uva . three official training classes are offered throughout the year during january may and august although in times of driver shortage new drivers can be trained one on one or in small groups throughout the semester . all of the new driver training is performed by current uts drivers who are selected before the beginning of the training class to be trainers . training is overseen by a training coordinator who is also a current driver and is selected for the task before each training session . student management edit each year four student supervisors are chosen from current drivers who apply . although they are called student supervisors these supervisors manage all drivers that are currently on the road while they are on duty whether they are student drivers wage drivers or full time drivers . each supervisor is assigned days of the week to be on duty during which time they deal with driver and route problems as they present themselves . the supervisors head four committees safety public relations recruitment and retention and new initiatives . 8 supervisor training edit unlike becoming a new driver there are no training classes for becoming a supervisor . new supervisors are instead taught on the job for a few weeks by the supervisors from the previous year . the previous supervisor acts only in a mentoring capacity and generally does not directly supervise drivers during this time . budget edit the university transit service budget consists of several components the mandatory comprehensive transportation fee of 144 as of the 2008 2009 academic year 9 uva health system funding university heights apartments transportation fee 10 and charter services . references edit averette brittany . student driven . the university of virginia magazine spring 2006 . web . 4 jan. 2012 . university transit service routemap university transit service routes service schedule the economic impact of the university of virginia p. 16 cts stats uva id passengers boarding bus university transit service fleet manual . mid fall 2008 . page 3 4 university transit service committees student driven . retrieved 4 may 2010 . transportation and parking committee january 22 2009 uts to follow new routes retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title university transit service & oldid 698113166 categories university of virginiabus transportation in virginia1972 establishments in virginiahidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2009 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk 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