MOUNT VERNON — Residents are gradually changing their behavior when it comes to riding Knox County Transit, with new riders embracing the free routes.
“I think what we’re seeing, though, is that we have a lot more usage of the routes, but we’re still having the same on-demand demand,” Transit Director Bethany Celmar told the county commissioners on Tuesday.
Due to funding cuts, KCT cut three drivers and one dispatch position. Celmar said that KCT has “felt the pinch” the last few weeks.
“We’ve had a couple legacy riders that have been very unhappy because they haven’t been able to get the on-demand trips,” she said.
“We do still have that availability on the routes. Most of the riders are happy, and they are changing their behaviors, but we do still have some people that are just not feeling it with the routes. The unfortunate part is we just don’t have the on-demand availability.”
“This is the wave of the future. We’re going to have to get more and more on fixed routes and take those demands off the system, and allow the on demand to be for the riders who really need on-demand.”
jason booth, knox county administrator
Some riders are reluctant to use the free routes because they dislike the idea of transferring between buses. For them, it might be a matter of getting them used to the new scenario.
“But in the big picture, we’re talking about 1 to 2% of our riders that are not making that transition,” Celmar said. “By and large, I feel that most of our riders are happy with them, but also we’re getting new riders who weren’t riding before because they were waiting for those routes.”
Now we’re booked, now we’re not
Most riders call to schedule their on-demand ride, but KCT also has email and online options.
Celmar said what is difficult about on-demand is that people’s plans change.
“People get sick, they cancel. Last week when it was raining a lot, we had a lot of cancellations,” she said. “So we book, we don’t have availability, and then we do have availability, and it’s ever-changing.”
County Administrator Jason Booth said the trend toward the free routes is positive because that is the goal.
“We knew we weren’t going to make everybody happy, but we knew what everywhere we go, everybody wants more and more and more transportation. The only way to to do that is through fixed routes,” he said.
“We can’t continue to have on demand grow and grow because we’re not going to have the budget, the volume of drivers, the volume of buses to do that.”
KCT has numerous on-demand requests in Apple Valley, Fredericktown, Martinsburg, and Centerburg. However, the transit company does not have a bus or a driver.
Additionally, some of those runs take 40 minutes, which is hard to accommodate.
“What we’re trying to really see is Mount Vernon to kind of lighten up on the on-demand so that we can do the rest of the county,” Celmar said.
“It’s the outer edge of Mount Vernon that’s not serviced by the trips.
In August, KCT served 484 unique, unduplicated individuals through its on-demand service.
Workforce transportation remains strong at 45 percent of ridership.
An aging fleet
Celmar maintains her $2.5 million in costs through two budgets: maintenance ($158,298) and operations ($2,330,122).
Federal funding reimburses 80 percent of the maintenance costs.
“I think that’s a pretty good deal for 30 buses to be maintained and up and running and serving our community. That’s a pretty good investment,” Celmar said.
KCT’s fleet, however, is aging.
According to Ohio Department of Transportation regulations, a bus must have 1,500 miles before KCT can dispose of it. Vans must have 130,000 miles.
Six vehicles are starting to have transmission problems, and, according to Celmar, “probably should have been gone by now.”
She is using those on lighter routes or as spares. Celmar ordered a new vehicle in April and anticipates receiving it next spring.
“It always just feels like the wave that you can’t grasp, right? There’s just so much going on and always changing, that it’s hard to plan, and it’s really hard to nail it down. That’s where I think it will always be a challenge for transit, because people’s plans always change.”
Transit Director bethany celmar
The operations budget breakdown indicates the majority of the funds are allocated to staff.
“When we’re looking at budget cuts, obviously we always look at utilities or supplies, but they are such a small percentage of our budget,” Celmar said.
“It’s usually going to be focusing on wages, benefits, staffing levels.”
“I think that the people in the community just don’t realize how expensive it is to do this operation,” Commissioner Bill Pursel said.
“It would be good for them to be aware that this is a huge benefit to them. And they’re not paying it through other taxes.”
(Below is Celmar’s September report to the commissioners.)
