Overhauling Public Transit: City looks at system changes

The OTO presented a list of recommendations to the Board of Public Utilities in early March, and atop the list was a strategic plan for the creation of a new regional transit authority, which would operating the bus service.

State law restricts funding of such a system to a special sales tax that can range from 1/8-cent to 1/4-cent. Such a tax would have to be passed by popular vote.

The earliest a transit system vote could take place in the Ozarks would be August 2008, which the OTO said would make sense as other transportation projects are slated for the same ballot. A decision on when to put the issue before voters, however, has not yet been made.

Creating a regional system would not preclude CU from continuing to operate the city’s bus system, according to Transit Director Carol Cruise.

“The first step could be moving the transit system away from the utility, (but) it doesn’t have to be,” she said. “CU could still operate the system inside Springfield and contract with someone outside the community.”

The OTO, which spent more than a year studying the CU transit system and those of similar-size cities across the country, recommended other changes, such as switching the public buses from a route to a grid system and future implementation of several “rapid transit” ideas, including the possible addition of high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on James River Freeway, U.S. Highway 65 and other major thoroughfares in and around Springfield. (Read more about OTO programs and its mission here.)

Dan Rudge, OTO executive director, said the recommendations are based on a survey of bus operators, passengers, regional city and county officials and two focus groups whose members don’t use public transit services.

Branching out?

Determining which areas the transit authority should cover is another issue.

“We’d like to see service extended to Ozark, Nixa, Republic, Willard, Strafford and Rogersville,” Rudge said. “And then we’d like to see where it goes from there.”

Collin Quigley, Ozark city administrator, said that while he knows that there are people in Ozark who would use a regional transit service, he questions the economic feasibility.

“To what extent it would pay for itself, I don’t know,” Quigley said. “Those things would have to be looked at. But there are definitely people here who would use it.”

Nixa Mayor Doug Marrs said that while a regional transportation authority “can be a good thing based on density and demographics,” he worries that the system would be disproportionately dominated by Springfield.

“(Springfield’s) demographics are different, so when that is spread around, I feel like we would be funding a lot more than what we’d be getting out of it,” Marrs said.

He is, however, willing to discuss the issue.

“It’s a complex issue, and we recognize that, and we’re certainly willing to have a seat at the table to discuss it,” he said. “But we come in with a little bit of hesitation.”

Marrs also worries that, because of the different demographics of the outlying communities, effectively applying one system to the entire region would be difficult.

Rudge said that additional surveys to assess demand in outlying communities would be part of the process of developing a plan, though none have yet been conducted.

Revamping the map

During the yearlong process to come up with a transit development plan, OTO also worked to find out why more local people don’t use city buses. During interviews with nonpassengers, OTO found that one of the main reasons is that people think bus travel takes too long, Rudge said.

While CU does not track average trip times, Ozark Greenways does compare bus trip times with travel by car through its annual Commuter Challenge during Bike, Bus, Walk Week each May.

Last year, teams traveled from Panera Bread at Kansas and Kearney to the Busch Municipal Building, 840 Boonville Ave. The trip took 41 minutes by bus and 17 minutes by car. Teams traveling from Panera at 3837 S. Campbell Ave. to the Busch Building took 18 minutes by bus and 14 by car.

One time-saving measure would be to change the system’s basic route structure. The bus system currently runs in circular routes, with all trips starting and ending at a downtown turnaround facility.

A better alternative, according to the list of recommendations, would be a grid system with buses staying on specific major streets, allowing customers to ride the bus from one major thoroughfare to another, rather than having to go to one central location.

“If you were on Sunshine (Street) and wanted to head south to the mall, you’d take the bus as far as Glenstone (Avenue) and then get on the bus going south to the mall,” Rudge said, “as opposed to getting on a loop that takes you to the east side of town, goes to the transfer facility, and then winds all the way through town back to the mall.”

Changing to a grid is on the list of recommendations to be completed within three years.

An optimal grid system, Rudge said, would have a bus on every sixth street.

Speeding things up

The list of recommendations also includes additional ways to improve travel times, such as Bus Rapid Transit.

BRT comprises a wide range of possibilities – from something as simple as buses with fewer stops and technology to change traffic signals, to dedicated bus-only or high-occupancy vehicle lanes on major thoroughfares such as U.S. 65 and James River Freeway.

Rudge said that funding for small changes, such as signal technology, would come from the potential transit authority, while larger changes involving highway work would have to be funded through a combination of federal, state and local highway funds.

Higher fares

Regardless of what happens with the proposed regional transit authority, changes are in store for the costs of riding city buses.

City Utilities is proceeding with a recommended fare increase, the bus system’s first since 1997. Increasing the basic fare – to a proposed $1.25 from the current 75 cents by fiscal year 2009 – would bring the system in line with its peers, according to OTO.

The average amount of total revenue received through bus fares is 20 percent to 25 percent; CU transit fares of $501,111 accounted for just 9 percent of system revenue in 2006.

CU’s Cruise said a public hearing on the proposed increase is scheduled for April 26 at the Library Station on North Kansas Expressway, followed by an anticipated vote by Springfield City Council.

Funding will be increasingly important to the transit system, Cruise said, as Springfield’s urban area has now passed 200,000, which means a reduction in federal transit subsidies.

Comparing CU Transit

(Figures are based on 2006 data)

Category CU Peer Cities Average Difference

Passenger Trips 1,416,003 1,171,203 20.9%

Vehicle Miles 1,184,809 1,190,789 -0.5%

Vehicle Miles per capita 7.85 8.93 -12.16%

Operating Expenses $6,091,880 $5,261,508 15.78%

Fare Revenue $501,111 $634,706 -21.05%

Source: Ozarks Transportation Organization