A new T bus route has been added to UT’s Parking and Transit schedule to help connect members of the campus community to Pellissippi State Community College’s Hardin Valley campus and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
UT hopes to attract people affiliated with UT, ORNL, and Pellissippi State Community College to offer the new route as a sustainable alternative to commuting by vehicle.
The new ORNL/PSCC T route began running August 19 as a pilot route for the fall semester. The route picks up riders at the Cumberland Avenue and James Agee Street stop and makes a round trip to Pellissippi State Community College’s Clayton Performing Arts Center and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Visitors Center, before returning to the UT campus.
Pickup and drop-off times for each location can be found at Ride the T.
Riders originating from the UT campus can take the route from Cumberland Avenue and James Agee Street at 6:54 a.m., noon, and 3:44 p.m.
Passengers must show their UT ID to ride to PSCC. For security reasons, those traveling on to ORNL must present their approved ORNL badge as they enter the bus.
The route was added through a partnership with PSCC and ORNL. It is intended to benefit Volunteer Bridge students, faculty who hold joint appointments, staff who conduct business with both UT and ORNL, and UT students with assistantships and internships at the national laboratory.
“Our numbers of joint faculty, shared graduate students, and undergraduates doing internships at ORNL is constantly increasing,” Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for research and engagement, said. “This [transit] will benefit both communities, the Bredesen Center, our joint institutes, and all of our active collaborations. It will also support our Bridge Program with Pellissippi State.”
Students who want to ride the route from Pellissippi State Community College back to the UT campus must wait until bus stops at the James Clayton Performing Arts Center the second time in the schedule to avoid the ORNL stop because the bus travels beyond the security checkpoint to get to the ORNL Visitor’s Center.
The ORNL/PSCC route will operate through the fall semester until Friday, December 10 and will continue in the spring semester after the break. No service will be available during university holidays and administrative closings. This is a pilot service so UT will work with ORNL and PSCC to assess the ridership in the spring in order to evaluate potential changes in the service for next year.
All T buses are accessible to passengers with disabilities and equipped with GPS tracking to monitor the vehicle’s location using the university’s mobile app.
For more information about T routes, scheduling, and our real-time tracking system for buses, visit Ride the T.