MOUNT VERNON — Positive reaction to free flex routes could help buffer the results of reduced funding for Knox Area Transit.
Meeting with the county commissioners on July 29, transit director Bethany Celmar said KCT has had “phenomenal usage” of its free flex routes.
Celmar said that ideally, six months from the June launch, she wanted to be around 100 to 120 trips per day.
“Within the first two weeks we were seeing 80 riders a day. We had 813 riders in June; the goal was about 1,000. So to be that close to our six-month goal on the initial rollout month was amazing,” she told commissioners.
Regarding funding, Celmar said that KCT received about $146,000 less in operating funds from the federal government compared to last year. Although the aggregate amount allocated for public transit statewide did not decline, there are two new transit systems in the state.
That means each transit agency receives less.
“Obviously when you’re trying to budget, and you’re looking at costs going up, that’s going to hurt,” she said. “There’s no buffer for that, and I didn’t know what was going to happen, so I was actually planning ahead.”
Reduced staffing affects on-demand service
Celmar said she did not fill three positions when drivers left in the spring. The agency reduced its full-time driver staff from 18 to 15.
KCT also reduced its dispatch team from six full-time staff to four.
Celmar said the agency will not cut hours of operation. However, the reductions mean decreased availability of on-demand service during the day.
“That’s where having the flex routes is a huge advantage because there’s no denial for that. Those are running no matter what. If you can’t get in for the on-demand, and you’re in Mount Vernon, if you can get to a route, you still have transportation,” she said.
Additionally, KCT will eliminate two shifts on Saturday.
“The hours are still the same, but it’s less availability on Saturday. … It’s just how many buses we have on the roads and how many drivers we have,” Celmar said.
KCT offers an online option where riders can book on-demand service themselves.
“This is really probably the easiest way right now to get scheduled, and you don’t even have to mess with the phone calls,” Celmar told the commissioners.
Expansion grant could help offset funding cut
Celmar applied for a $93,400 workforce transportation grant that helps pay for expanding operations. Award recipients will be notified this fall.
“It has to be a brand new operation, and it has to be related to a workforce site, which would be the industrial park,” she said.
“We have some regular riders along Columbus Road and different neighborhoods there, so we’re drafting that to see if we can make sure we can get through those neighborhoods and also hit the industrial park. That will help us a lot. That might offset what we lost.”
It also gives KCT a fifth route that feeds into the other four and enables riders to get across town.
Celmar acknowledged that not all of the routes are busy all of the time. However, she said that the flex routes are more efficient and effective in offsetting the agency’s on-demand service.
She also noted that some larger buses might only transport one individual after dropping off a group trip or en route to picking up a group of riders.
“It’s more efficient to have them run their route and then pick up that big group and then drop them off. … It’s better than driving back to the center and getting a smaller bus,” she explained.
Fleet replacement poses challenges
Celmar said the transit agency should have replaced between nine and 11 buses based on the age of the fleet.
However, after COVID-19, bus prices skyrocketed. Celmar now needs $30,000 in local funds to buy one bus, up from $10,000 to $15,000.
KCT gets its local match through contract revenue and the NET program (NonEmergency Medical Transportation) . However, not many riders are eligible for NET, and Celmar has had difficulty getting businesses and other organizations to contract with KCT.
“The commissioners have helped with some of that match when needed, but that’s not the long-term solution,” County Administrator Jason Booth said.
“We’ve also talked about downsizing the fleet a little bit or downsizing the size of the buses as we set routes.”
If major issues crop up with a bus, Celmar said the agency will sell it. However, KCT might have to sell five buses to get enough to buy one new bus.
Celmar said that when considering downsizing the fleet, the challenge is to balance whether it is worthwhile to keep the larger buses all year for the short-term summer revenue.