Every fifteen minutes, Muncie's signature MITS buses can be seen passing through campus. On each bus is a portrait of the community. Young and old sit side by side waiting until the bus arrives at their destination.
"Buses carry around a hodgepodge of people," Mary Gaston, assistant general manager for MITS, said. "There are people from every walk of life riding the bus.
Beginning last fall, MITS began a program to allow Ball State students to ride the buses for free. Since August, more and more students have used MITS to connect them to the community.
"For example, the Walmart -- mall route which is the one that goes right through campus on McKinley and University (avenues), has doubled in ridership since August. So it has had a tremendous impact on the campus route," Gaston said.
The Walmart route also goes to the Village, Kohl's, Muncie Mall, Target and downtown.
Gaston said two factors went into the decision to makes MITS free to students.
"We kept hearing that students are poor, don't have money, always scraping around for that last quarter," she said. "The other thing is that our state funding is based on a very complicated formula that includes ridership as one of the pieces of that. The more ridership we carry, the more money we're able to receive back from state funding."
The money that MITS will eventually receive from state funding is expected to exceed what would have been received in fares.
"So it should be a win-win situation," Gaston said.
Students account for 23 percent of MITS riders.
"Summer is a lot slower time for us ridership wise than the rest of the school year," Gaston said.
Junior Nicholas Ferreri, telecommunications major, said he uses the MITS mainly to travel to shop at Walmart.
"It's my main link if I need to go anywhere," he said.
Because Ferreri does not have a car, he often relies on the bus for transportation, he said.
One of Ferreri's favorite parts of riding the bus is watching people.
"I make great observations," he said. "I always come back with a story from riding the bus."
Ferreri recalls one man who was especially excited about the purchases he had just made at a hardware store. He had opened all of his packages and was trying them out on the bus.
"He had a level, and he was measuring things on the bus," he said.
Ferreri said he had not had any bad experiences on the bus, but he sometimes wished the buses had more extended hours and offered service on Sundays.
"You do see a wide range of people and more of the community," he said.
People have various reasons for using MITS bus system. Many students use the buses because they do not have a car, while members of the community have numerous other reasons.
"You have people who don't have a choice because they don't have the income for it or because of a disability that keeps them from having the choice of driving their own car," Gaston said. "You also have people who chose to ride the bus because they don't wan to deal with the hassles of parking, especially on campus, or they would rather read the newspaper while they are on their way to work."
Sophomore Emily Avery, English secondary education major, said she sees riding the MITS as a cultural experience. She has started conversations with community members while riding the bus.
"It's usually elderly people I talk to," she said.
Riding the MITS has allowed Avery, she said, to see more of the community than campus and get a better feeling of what Muncie is like.
"I think also just that the MITS is free for students it shows Muncie trying to connect with Ball State," Avery said.
She has ridden the buses more frequently since they became free for students.
"Before, when it was 50 cents, it was like 'that's cutting into my laundry money,'" she said.
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