MOUNT VERNON — Subscription riders are good, but they present a challenge for Knox Area Transit.
“Subscriptions are folks who call in and have a standing reservation,” KAT Director Bethany Celmar told the county commissioners.
Students, commuters, and dialysis patients account for the majority of subscriptions, which average 165 a day. Peak subscription ridership is early morning and late afternoon.
“That’s if we don’t take a single phone call,” Celmar said. “Automatically right off the bat we are pretty much booked between 7-9 a.m. and 3-4 p.m.”
Ridership is increasing to 350 to 400 trips a day. Celmar said ridership will approach the 400 mark as the weather cools.
About 20 trips are to the east side of the county and reach as far as Walhonding. Fredericktown averages 33, with four to Martinsburg/Utica area and two to Centerburg.
Celmar said schedulers try to coordinate riders and trips, but it is difficult because of the distance.
KAT averages 88 riders per day who use a mobility device. Celmar said KAT can get in two trips per 30 minutes because of the extra time needed to load and unload.
“We do have some availability for more trips, but we are pretty filled because we’re in every corner of the county every day,” she said. “These are the things we have to coordinate.”
Of KAT’s 24 drivers, 18 work an eight-hour shift. Six work a five-hour shift.
Twelve buses are on the road for general operations each day. One driver is dedicated to medical rides to Columbus or Mansfield. Another part-time driver fills in, handling two trips on most days.
The Kenyon Saturday shuttle has had a consistent ridership of around 115 students. Celmar said 1,060 people have ridden that route since Sept. 2, and it is popular with the students.
Behavioral issues
KAT continues to have problems with schoolchildren who misbehave.
KAT transports around 50 students daily, many of them open-enrolled in another school district. Celmar said KAT is starting to give a “three strikes and then you’re off the bus” warning.
“It’s escalated, and it’s getting more and more dangerous,” she told the commissioners. “It’s a difficult situation. They need to be in school, but KAT is not responsible or equipped to handle that type of behavior.”
Noting it involves a lot of resources, buses, and drivers, Celmar said, “I don’t know what the right answer is, but we’re going to have to figure it out before next school year.”
Another problem arises with before- and after-school care. For example, daycare centers frequently do not have staff before 8:45, but KAT has to drop them off at 8:30.
“That’s not transit’s problem. We’re not a school bus,” County Administrator Jason Booth said.
Celmar has created a student packet with KAT’s policies and behavior standards. The packet includes a contract for the “free-standing” parents who use KAT to transport their children to or from school.
“I do think we ought to be firm on the behavior issues,” Commissioner Teresa Bemiller said. “I don’t think our drivers should have to deal with those issues.”
Setting boundaries
Celmar said another area she is working on is educating drivers to set boundaries with the riders. For example, drivers help people in and out of their homes and load and unload groceries.
“They are not to do that. Those are ODOT rules, not local,” Celmar said.
Another example is understaffed nursing homes and dialysis centers.
“We’ve filled in with taking people in and out. We’re not to go inside, but the nursing home doesn’t have the staff to bring them outside,” she said. “Dialysis doesn’t bring them out, either.”
Celmar said that additionally, dialysis frequently is not completed on time and the divers are getting overtime waiting for them to finish.
The difficulty is finding a balance between the time it takes the rider or nursing home to do something vs. the driver helping the individual and being able to stay on schedule.
“The driver’s responsibility is to safely load them on the bus,” Booth said, adding that liability issues come into play.
“There are some patterns where a volunteer group or volunteer on the bus could help. That’s what we’re working on,” Celmar said.
However, using volunteers involves liability coverage issues, too.
“It seems simple, but it’s so complex,” Booth said. “But when you operate as a glorified taxi service, these are the problems you run into.”
