The MITS Late Loop recorded more than 5,300 passenger trips during its trial run from April 5 to May 5, making the program a success for MITS and the downtown businesses that sponsored it.
Mary Gaston, MITS assistant general manager, said MITS didn't set any goals for ridership numbers but was pleased with the amount of use the Loop received.
She said she attributed the Loop's success to careful planning by MITS and downtown businesses and input from Ball State University students.
"Once you put a route where people want to go, they're likely to take advantage of it," she said.
The Late Loop, which ran every Thursday through Saturday from 9:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., developed from a student group project for a Ball State electronic media sales class during Fall Semester. The group presented the Late Loop concept to Muncie Downtown Development in December, group member Kelly Harlow said. The Loop came to fruition through meetings with Ball State students, MITS representatives and downtown business owners.
Doc's Music Hall, Wishbone Gifts, The Fickle Peach and Praxis Consulting were among the businesses that paid for the Late Loop, which cost $720 per week to operate.
Doc's co-owner Mike Martin said he saw increased business during the five weekends the Loop was in operation.
"When it was all said and done we were money ahead," he said. "The foot traffic downtown seems a little different now. We definitely saw more students."
Krae Wolf, a 21-year-old Ball State sophomore, said he rode the Late Loop twice in order to visit downtown businesses he normally wouldn't.
"It's just a different variety of bars [downtown]," he said. "The atmospheres are a lot different than the Village bars, where you have lots of loud college students crowding around you."
Although MITS has not yet scheduled the Late Loop to run again, Martin said he plans to meet with students and MITS representatives before Fall Semester to make plans to start up the program again.
"It's really up to merchants to decide whether they want to continue to fund it or not," Gaston said.
Harlow said she expects the Loop to begin running again in the fall, as Martin and the student group are "working out the kinks" and making sure businesses are still willing to sponsor it.
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