The Fox Cities Transit Commission met 05/21/2024. The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a non-action item discussion about proposed bus service scheduling changes. In light of an ongoing, long-term inability to maintain appropriate staffing levels, Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald proposed cutting approximately 320 hours a week from Valley Transit’s fixed route bus service and transition to utilizing an on call, door-to-door connector service for hours outside of peak service hours. Fares for the connector service would be $2 per ride.
The fixed route buses would operate as follows:
- Monday – Friday: 5:45AM – 6:15PM
- Saturday: 7:45AM – 1:15PM
- Sunday: No service
The Valley Transit Connector Service would operate as follows:
- Monday – Friday: 4AM – 6AM and 6PM – Midnight
- Saturday: 4AM – 8AM and 1PM – Midnight
- Sunday: No service
This change was similar to changes made by other transit systems in the area and around the country.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
General Manager McDonald told the committee that even before Covid it had been difficult to find employees willing to work the number of hours necessary to maintain the quality of the transit system. After Covid, it was getting worse and worse, to the point that they only had 17 of 36 full time operator positions filled.
As a result, they believed they needed to cut all non-peak fixed bus route service and replace the service during those non-peak hours with the Valley Transit Connector service which were on-call vans that provided door-to-door service for $2 a ride. That $2 fare had been established in order to remain consistent with the cost of a bus ride and not make it unaffordable to people that needed transportation during off hours.
It was anticipated that a rider would have to call 2 hours ahead to schedule a pickup time. The service is provided by Running Inc which is the same contractor that manages the Valley Transit II paratransit service for riders with disabilities who cannot use the regular buses.
Based on current usage, 90% of public transit users will still be able to use the buses during the daytime hours of operation. 10% will now have to move to utilizing the Valley Transit Connector service. He believed that, worst case scenario, this change would be budget neutral.
Commission Ronald Torrance asked the question, “We’re investing a lot in a new transit center, both south and here in the city, and so yet we’re cutting service? What’s the perceived perception going to be to the public that, oh, they’re building all this, spending all this money, but yet they’re cutting services?”
General Manager McDonald responded, “Well, I would say we’re not cutting service. We’re transitioning to a different mode of service. We haven’t cut services. We just have a different mode to ride. Secondly, about 90% of our passengers are still going to be on the fixed route bus which needs all the infrastructure in place to operate the fixed route system. So, we’re talking a very small percentage of riders in that. So. What will their perception be? I don’t know. We will have to do something to educate them if that comes up, and answer their questions.”
The commission recognized this as a drastic change, but there didn’t seem to be any other options. Per General Manager McDonald, “It wouldn’t have been my first recommendation if we didn’t have to do this.” They did not even have enough drivers to run the buses on Julye 5th and 6th, after the Independence Day holiday.
The work force had really changed over the years. When General Manager McDonald joined Valley Transit in 2016 80% of the workforce was eligible for retirement. Unlike those people who retired, the employees who came on to replace them were not interested in spending their entire careers with the city but only planned to work for a few years before moving on to something else. Additionally, some of the newer employees had experience as school bus drivers but found that driving municipal buses was a much different experience and one they did not care for. Moving off-peak service to a van-based on-call connector service meant that drivers would not need Commercial Driver’s Licenses.
There was some concern that this connector service might be “abused” because the $2 fare was so low. Mr. McDonald acknowledge that was possible, but he didn’t think he would be used widely. He thought most people used to using Uber would prefer getting into a car versus a shared-ride van. Additionally, one did need to call 2 hours ahead in order to schedule a pick-up time/location.
If the service did become popular, that would cause a problem for Running Inc, and Valley Transit would have to figure out a way to control is, probably by increasing passenger fares. However, Mr. McDonald reiterated that he didn’t think the service would become particularly popular, and he anticipated the maximum number of trips they would provide in an hour would be around 50.
Valley Transit will be holding a public hearing on the proposed changes on 06/04/2024 at 3:30PM in the Appleton Council Chambers room. After that, General Manager McDonald anticipated bringing it back to the Transit Commission as an action item at their 06/11/2024 meeting, and then the scheduling changes would be implemented in mid-July.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1192657&GUID=403F73C0-DD2C-4C84-BB1B-9F75E3DB85FB
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