Bloomington Transit General Manager John Connell says ridership is bouncing back from pandemic lows.
(WFIU/WTIU File Photo)
Ridership on Bloomington’s local bus service, Bloomington Transit, dropped by half during the pandemic. A listener wanted to know -- is it bouncing back?
Bloomington Transit General Manger John Connell says his organization ended 2022 with a 48% gain in ridership over the previous year. Ordinarily, he says that would be “spectacular.”
“But we're still not to the pre-pandemic levels,” he said. “So I think each month we're seeing modest gains in ridership.”
It shows an 81% loss between January 2019 and January 2022. The biggest drops came in January and February of 2021. Ridership in both months was only about one-fifth of what it had been in January and February of 2020. By November of 2021, that 81% loss was moderated to a little over 49%.
Connell predicts the positive uptick in ridership will continue into 2023.
“We feel very confident that's going to continue and, hopefully by year end, we may be back to prepandemic levels,” he said.
He points out that the downturn in ridership has been due to two factors. One is a driver shortage.
“You know, our wages are competitive, and we are seeing improvements each month,” he said. “So I think as people return to the workforce, we hope to be at full employment by the end of this year.”
The other factor: reduced routes. But Connell says, as BT is able to hire more drivers, it can add service, too.
One option being considered is an extension of BT Late Night into peak day times. The pilot program, which began in June of 2022, replaced traditional late-night evening bus service with on demand service through contracted Uber and Lyft providers.
“We recognized at that time, given the driver shortage, that we had buses running three hours in the evening on various routes where the ridership would drop significantly,” he said. “And if we could redirect those resources, those driver hours, to the part of the daytime schedule where we had peak demand we'd be better served. At the same time, we wanted to provide a safety net for individuals who needed transportation services in those later evening hours.”
Connell says the pilot program has been so successful BT is considering continuing it to deliver a combination of on-demand and traditional service.
“We want to be the mobility provider for the entire community,” he said. “That's really the direction we're moving toward.”
Another listener, who is new to Bloomington, wondered if Bloomington Transit could ever make ridership free. They referenced Chapel Hill Transit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which has been offering free rides for more than 20 years.
In a 2021 article How Free Transit Works in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, Chapel Hill Transit Director Brian Litchfield said he preferred to call it a “pre-paid fare” program: local municipalities and the University of North Carolina prepay fares for their employees and students.
Similarly, BT can offer “unlimited universal access” to Indiana University employees and students, Connell says, because IU contracts with BT to do that. BT also has contracts with some area high-density housing complexes that allow those residents to ride fare-free. And, City of Bloomington and Monroe County government employees also ride fare-free.
But Connell says revenue lost by extending fare-free rides to all BT riders would have to be made up somewhere, perhaps through additional contracts.
“We look to continue those types of partnerships, whether it be through other units of government, other educational organizations, institutions, major employers,” he said. “I think that's what it would take, to have those partnerships in place to offset any potential lost revenue.”
A fare study currently underway could provide more options. One idea being considered is a fare-capping system that would level the costs for pay-per-trip riders and those who purchase discounted monthly passes. Connell anticipates having the study results by May.
