Cambus is a public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

 bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 system, primarily serving the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

 campus in Iowa City, IA. The service is intended to provide transportation for students, faculty, and staff around the main campus, University of Iowa Research Park, residence halls, and commuter parking lots. Cambus is a no fare service open to the general public. Cambus provides approximately 4,000,000 rides per year.

The service is operated by the Department of Parking and Transportation for the University of Iowa with funding from the Parking & Transportation Department, a UI Student fee, and the Federal Transportation Administration.

Cambus was originally founded by University of Iowa students and has been in operation since 1972. The University of Iowa campus is divided into east and west halves by the Iowa River

Iowa River

The Iowa River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the state of Iowa in the United States. It is about long and is open to small river craft to Iowa City, about from its mouth...

. Most Liberal Arts and Sciences classes take place on the east side of the river; thus the purpose of the new bus service was to facilitate easier transportation between the west-side dormitories and the east-side classrooms. At first there was no name for this service, so the founding students created a contest open to all U of I students to select one. "Cambus" was the name eventually chosen after Cambuskenneth

Cambuskenneth

Cambuskenneth is a village in the city of Stirling, located in central Scotland. It has a population of 250 and is the site of the historic Cambuskenneth Abbey. It is situated by the River Forth and the only road access to the village is along Ladysneuk Road from Alloa Road in Causewayhead...

, and the winner (whose name has been lost to history) was awarded a free pizza.

The first Cambus buses were used school buses, repainted by Cambus employees. There were three different bus routes; Red Route, Blue Route, and the Interdorm Shuttle. Cambus also acquired a trailer, which was used as their main office; this was located in the Hancher Auditorium parking lot.

Currently, Cambus employs approximately 170 employees. There are only six non-student employees who work specifically for Cambus: the Cambus Coordinator, the Maintenance Supervisor, and four full-time mechanics. All other employees, including drivers, dispatchers, trainers, student mechanics, and departmental supervisors, are students currently enrolled at the University of Iowa.

Cambus also has two different buildings on the University of Iowa campus. The main office is located on Evashevski Drive, behind Kinnick Stadium

Kinnick Stadium

Kinnick Stadium, formerly known as Iowa Stadium, and known in the area simply as Kinnick, is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, in the sport of college football...

. It is slated to be replaced with a new West Campus Transit Center in 2012. The Cambus Maintenance Facility, often called "The Barn" by employees, is located on South Madison Street south of the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Routes and Hours of Operation

Cambus currently has seventeen (17) routes in service.

During Academic service (the Spring and Fall semesters), all routes run on weekdays with extremely limited service on the weekends. During Summer and Interim service a limited service runs without any weekend service. Route maps and schedules are available on the Cambus website and in pamphlets available on the buses. Cambus time is set by the Master Clock at the US Navel Observatory (http://www.time.gov)

During academic service the earliest route begins at 4:30 am and the last route ended at 1:02 am (2:12 am on Friday and Saturday nights for SafeRide)

Cambus also provides special service for University-affiliated groups, including shuttle service for most Hawkeye football games (to/from downtown, Hancher, and the Hawkeye Commuter Lot), men's Hawkeye basketball games (to/from Hancher), and other events on campus.

Route List

• Blue Route
• East Campus Shuttle
• Hawk Lot/Hospital
• Hawkeye Express*
• Hawkeye-Hospital
• Hawkeye-Interdorm
• Hospital Finkbine/Arena
• AM/PM Hospital via Hancher
• Mayflower Shuttle*
• North Hospital Shuttle
• Interdorm
• Research Park
• Pentacrest
• Studio Arts Shuttle
• Music/Theatre Shuttle*
• Red Route
• routes marked with an asterisk run only during Spring/Fall semesters

Bongo (Bus On the Go)

To improve safety, encourage eco-friendly practices, and create a more efficient service, Cambus adopted Bongo in Spring 2010. Bongo is a GPS-based, real-time passenger information system that allows riders to find current bus locations as well as predictions for upcoming bus arrivals.

Bongo utilizes GPS technology and computer modeling to track vehicles on their routes and predict arrival times. Each vehicle is equipped with a GPS tracking system that reports latitude and longitude via satellite every 15 seconds.

Using the 4-digit stop number located at a particular stop, passengers can either text, call or go to www.ebongo.org to find all current arrival predictions for that stop.

In addition to finding current predictions, passengers can also create alerts to be sent to their mobile phones or to pop-up on their computer. More information about this is available at www.ebongo.org/alerts.

Bongo is powered by NextBus, a transit information system based in Emeryville, California.

Bionic Bus

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Cambus provides paratransit service called the Bionic Bus for University staff, faculty, and students. There are up to 3 paratransit buses in service during normal academic service (fewer run on weekends and during interim service). The service is demand-response curb-to-curb and serves much of Iowa City and Coralville. Student drivers are specially trained for Bionic Bus. Unlike Iowa City Transit and Coralville Transit, the paratransit service is handled in-house and not contracted to Johnson County SEATS.

Fleet

The Cambus fleet has changed tremendously over the years with addition of new buses and retirement of old ones. The current fleet consists of 33 actively used buses:

• Five Orion Bus Industries
  Orion Bus Industries
  Orion International, previously Orion Bus Industries and Ontario Bus Industries in Canada and Bus Industries of America in the United States, is a bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and established by the Government of Ontario in 1975...
  
  paratransit buses (Buses 8-10, 12, 13). Buses 8, 9, 12, 13 are used for Bionic Bus service and Bus 10 is usually used for the East Campus Shuttle, although occasionally used for Bionic Bus.
• One Opus Optima 30-foot low-floor bus (Bus 11) which is usually used for Music Theatre Shuttle.
• Seven 1989 Gillig Phantom 40-foot buses (Buses 64-78) which are being prepared for retirement. (Buses 65, 68, 70, 74, 75, 76, and 77 are retired).
• Five 1997 Gillig Phantom 40-foot buses (Buses 82-86) used for general service.
• Five 1989 Gillig Phantom 35-foot buses (Buses 89-93) which are now retired. These are often referred to as the "Madisons" because they were bought from Madison (Wisconsin) transit.
• Twelve 2008 Gillig 40-foot Low-floor buses (Buses 94-105) used for general service.
• Three 2009 Gillig 40-foot Low-floor buses (Buses 106-108) used for general service.
• Eight 2011 Gillig 40-foot Low-floor buses (Buses 109-116) used for general service.
• One Dodge Caravan minivan used for support purposes.
• One Ford F-250 pickup truck (with snowplow) used for support purposes.

All buses are outfitted with wheelchair lifts or ramps to assist those with disabilities.