The city-funded Gem Ride shuttle will still take people from gem show to gem show this year, but budget cuts mean fewer shuttle routes and eliminating some stops.
The shuttle typically operates at a loss, absorbed by the city's parking program ParkWise. But the city already has an $80 million shortage to make up in this year's budget.
This year, the reduced shuttle stops and fewer routes mean the city will break even on the shuttle service, said Chris Leighton, the city's parking program coordinator.
The shows eliminated from this year's shuttle runs are mostly outlying or away from hubs. Some of the now-unserved locations include the Westward Look and the JW Marriott Starr Pass resorts, along with ABC Direct Beads on Fort Lowell Road and the Doubletree hotel near Reid Park, Leighton said.
Routes will still hit shows in the Downtown area, which is the bulk of them, and some other spots around town.
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Starting today, the shuttles will run from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day through Feb. 15.
The routes have also been reduced from a high of nine in past years to three this year, and the city will use 12 or 13 vehicles instead of the 18 or 19 usually used. The shuttle service will still serve all of the most popular stops, but will run more efficiently, Leighton said.
"We have kept the most popular routes," he said.
Part of the efficiency comes from no longer running two shuttles along the same routes, one clockwise and one counter-clockwise, Leighton said.
This year, they will all run in one direction, with more buses per route, he said.
"We've made some improvements to how we route them, so we think they will run faster this year than last year," he said.
Service is expected at 15 to 20-minute intervals.
As always, the shuttle is free, but the city will charge a $5 parking fee at the three parking hubs along the routes.
The $5 parking charge is expected to make up for the $50,000 ParkWise uses to fund part of the program. The rest of the $300,000 budget this year is paid for by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitor's Bureau.
The parking lots will be on the south side of Congress Street, just west of Interstate 10, along 22nd Street near I-10 and at the Tucson Expo Center.
For more information, go online to http://www.visit tucson.org/ and click on "events," or call 1-866-PARK-GEM.
