Metro Ride
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Metro Ride, formerly Wausau Area Transit System (WATS), provides public bus transportation in the Wausau, Wisconsin area.
Metro Ride operates 7 routes in the City of Wausau, which run at 30-minute intervals. The service also provides several express routes to supplement the main routes when school is in session.
Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, with no services on weekends. The main transfer facility is located in the downtown area and also serves intercity buses.[needs update]
Routes
All routes operate from the transit center.
- A - Grand Ave/Health Center
- B - North 1st Ave/Northcentral Technical College
- D - Bridge St/West High School
- G - Sherman St
- H - North 6th St/Riverview
- I - Stewart Ave/Aspirus Hospital
- J - Thomas St
Service to Rothschild, Schofield and Weston ended in 2015, along with weekend service. At the same time, fares were raised.
Wausau Transit Center
The Wausau Transit Center is located at in downtown Wausau, across from the Marathon County Courthouse. The facility replaced a 1976 transit center located on an adjacent lot to the west of the current center. The new facility was built in 2005 and has space for about ten buses.
Ridership
| Year | Fixed Route Ridership | Paratransit Ridership | Total Ridership | Change over previous year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 672,224 | 3,388 | 675,612 | 06.47% |
| 2014 | 654,078 | 3,303 | 657,381 | 02.7% |
| 2015 | 577,044 | 2,504 | 579,548 | 011.84% |
| 2016 | 529,831 | 3,021 | 532,852 | 08.06% |
| 2017 | 498,902 | 4,152 | 503,054 | 05.59% |
| 2018 | 503,359 | 3,841 | 507,200 | 00.89% |
| 2019 | 468,555 | 4,120 | 472,675 | 06.81% |
| 2020 | 252,812 | 1,683 | 254,495 | 046.16% |
| 2021 | 284,378 | 3,050 | 287,428 | 012.94% |
| 2022 | 337,884 | 3,273 | 341,157 | 018.69% |
| 2023 | 359,363 | 2,937 | 362,300 | 06.2% |
Fixed Route Service Trends
2012-2016 data from 2018 Wausau Transit Development Plan. 2017-2020 data from National Transit database.
| Year | Service Hours | Service Miles |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 26,729 | 375,988 |
| 2013 | 29,372 | 411,843 |
| 2014 | 29,854 | 404,710 |
| 2015 | 27,028 | 375,626 |
| 2016 | 26,722 | 376,478 |
| 2017 | 27,324 | 377,052 |
| 2018 | 26,502 | 376,034 |
| 2019 | 26,407 | 376,816 |
| 2020 | 23,621 | 343,693 |
| 2021 | 27,017 | 381,209 |
| 2022 | 27,150 | 375,959 |