Five months after the Chicago Transit Authority changed its 201 bus route to better serve Northwestern, few students seem to make use of the improved service.

“They don’t ride the buses,” said a bus driver who operates route 201 in the mornings and evenings on weekdays.

According to passengers, student ridership lags on weekends as well.

“I’ve ridden on Saturdays and I don’t see that many students,” said Evanston Township Supervisor Patricia Vance.

The bus, which travels from the Howard El station to the Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, ran partly along Sherman Avenue until April, when transit officials shifted the route two blocks east. This action inconvenienced many senior citizens who live on or near Sherman Avenue and depend on the bus to travel because they have trouble climbing the stairs at El stations.

“I had quadruple (heart) bypass (surgery) and I had a mild stroke, so I can’t walk steps,” said 67-year-old Chicago resident Benjamin Michaels, who was taking the bus to see his doctor on Central Street Tuesday morning.

Vance said she takes the bus instead of the train because it makes her feel more secure. Another rider said that route 201 is a good alternative to the delay-plagued purple line.

“It’s actually faster to get on the bus,” said Maureen Landfald, of Chicago, who uses the route to get to her job at an Evanston pre-school.

Eight riders — two seniors and six working people — were aboard the 8 a.m. northbound bus Tuesday when it entered Evanston on busy Ridge Avenue. By the time the bus rattled its way to campus, only two passengers remained — Michaels and Jerry Marshall, a middle-aged man going to work. Many passengers said the route change has not discouraged elderly people from taking the bus.

“They get on a lot,” said Marshall, an Evanston resident. “They sit up front mainly and the bus is convenient to them and lets them off directly in front of (Evanston Hospital). They find their way to get to the bus.”

On a Tuesday morning southbound bus, the only passenger associated with NU was Weinberg post-doctorate fellow Janet Kirsch.

“I’ve seen a couple of students,” said Kirsch, who used the bus to get to campus even before it was rerouted. “I haven’t seen many last quarter, but I think I’ve seen more since classes started.”

No NU undergraduate was on board one of the buses Tuesday afternoon.

In addition to paralleling the purple line, part of the route uses the same streets as some of the student shuttles. A Sunday only Shop-n-Ride Shuttle takes NU students directly to Old Orchard Mall for free, further enhancing the redundancy of the route for students.

The view among many riders is that NU students have no use for the bus.

“I think most of them stay down on campus,” said route 201 passenger and DePaul University senior Jeff Hoag.

Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected]