The city of Columbia announced Thursday the addition of a new city bus route that will directly connect the University of Missouri and downtown Columbia. Mayor Bob McDavid calls the planFASTCAT –“CAT” being short for Campus Access Transit. The new route will bypass Wabash station creating a new central hub.
“(Wabash) is not the center of human activity in Columbia and I think we need to focus on that. The center of activity for Columbia, Missouri is the University of Missouri. We’re a college town that’s why we’re here,” McDavid said.
The FASTCAT route will make several stops by new apartment buildings and popular downtown locations as well as making stops on the MU campus. The new buses will contain GPS software allowing riders to download a smartphone app that will provide bus location and arrival times. The city hopes to have the bus route fully functional by August.