Free Rides for T-Birds on 81 Connection

A new partnership between OCCK Transportation and Cloud County Community College will allow students, faculty and staff to ride 81 Connection buses for free.

 

Beginning September 18, 2019, all Thunderbird students, faculty and staff can ride any 81 Connection regular fixed-route bus for free during normal operating hours by presenting a valid Cloud County Community College ID to the driver.

 

“With the start of the new school year, we wanted to make it easier for students to get around north central Kansas,” said Claire Mullen, Mobility Manager for the region.  “This partnership will help connect students with the local communities by riding 81 Connection and the new KANcycle bike sharing program.  We are excited about this partnership with the College.”

The 81 Connection bus service has three bi-directional trips each day, Monday through Friday.  The first route starts in Belleville at 6:45 a.m., then heads south on Highway 81 to four stops in Concordia, a stop at the Highway 24/Highway 81 junction, a stop in Minneapolis and stops at 7^th and Walnut and Wal-Mart in Salina and then heads back to north to the same stops.  The bus runs this loop twice and finishes in Belleville around 5:40 p.m. each day.  A Salina CityGo daily bus pass is included in the Salina fare. 

 

A second bus leaves Salina at 1:00 p.m. and heads north on Highway 81 to the same stop in Minneapolis, the stop at the Highway 24/Highway 81 junction, four stops in Concordia and the stop in Belleville, before heading back to Salina with the same stops.  The bus finishes in Salina around 6:00 p.m. each day.

 

For more information about 81 Connection and Kansas Rides, visit www.ksrides.org.  For more information about OCCK, Inc., visit www.occk.com.  For more information about KANcycle, visit www.kancycle.org.