(From left) Bloomington City Council member Stephen Volan and Bloomington Transit General Manager John Connell. (Courtesy of Community Access Television Services (CATS))
Bloomington Transit could serve parts of Monroe County outside Bloomington due to recent action taken by the city council.
Council members unanimously approved an ordinance Wednesday to give BT permission to negotiate agreements with entities including Monroe County and the Town of Ellettsville to extend its service boundaries.
Council member Stephen Volan, who sponsored the ordinance, said it does not automatically allow BT to provide trips beyond city limits, adding, “It just said, ‘Yes, BT can consider going outside the city for the first time. It’s legally within their purview to extend beyond the city.’”
Any such expansion will have to be negotiated on a route-by-route basis through interlocal agreements, according to Volan. An interlocal agreement is an agreed exchange of services between two government entities.
“What this is doing is giving BT authority to negotiate interlocal agreements with Monroe County, with Ellettsville (and) with any other entity,” Volan said. “It would give them authority to negotiate contracts and for those (other) agencies to not feel like maybe they’re wasting their time because we won’t approve the expansion; we’re doing it preemptively with this ordinance.”
The Bloomington City Council created the Bloomington Public Transit Corporation, which manages the city’s transit system. As a result, it’s the only body that can authorize such an expansion, according to John Connell, BT’s general manager.
The ordinance still will require Mayor John Hamilton’s signature of approval, however.
Three weeks ago, BT’s board of directors passed a resolution supporting a service expansion. Connell said that action was taken because Rural Transit will no longer be allowed to provide certain trips starting Jan. 1, 2024.
There are a few reasons why.
First, the 2020 Census reestablished what the Federal Transit Administration considers an urbanized area. Once the 2020 Census map was finalized this past February, the FTA told the Indiana Department of Transportation it will look more closely at nonurban systems to be sure they’re not serving trips between two urbanized areas.
Rural Transit riders can currently travel, for example, from Ellettsville to the Walmart on Bloomington’s west side. That won’t be allowed starting next year, because due to the recent change, both the pick-up and drop-off points are inside an urbanized area.
Rural Transit cannot provide urban-to-urban trips because it receives funds through the 5311 FTA non-urbanized formula grant program. Rural Transit receives that money from the FTA through INDOT.
“Currently, our intention is just to provide those trips that they’re no longer able to provide,” Connell said. “A lot of those trips are coming into the City of Bloomington to do business. It’s in the city’s best interests to provide those trips.”
Chris Myers, the executive director of Area 10 Agency on Aging — the nonprofit that operates Rural Transit — said this boils down to INDOT enforcing a rule that it already should have been.
“INDOT informed me that we would work through a process, which was supposed to take a couple of years,” Myers said. “(I) was then told in April that it would have to take effect Jan. 1, 2024.”
In a written response, INDOT Strategic Communications Director Natalie Garrett said the FTA's requirement for provision of services with use of Section 5311 funding has always been enforced.
"Since the new guidelines were released, INDOT’s Office of Transit has been working with Area 10 Rural Transit to adjust service based on the most recent UZA (Urbanized Areas) definitions," Garrett wrote. "This transition does require the rural public transit services provided by Area 10 to no longer operate within the Bloomington UZA if/when a trip both originates and ends with the UZA, as defined by FTA. INDOT will continue to work with Area 10 on this transition, with the goal of minimizing impacts to individuals and local communities."
Connell said BT does not intend to provide trips from rural to urban areas, which will still fall under Rural Transit purview.
The ordinance technically allows BT to expand anywhere in Monroe County, however. That’s why, Myers said, Area 10 does not support it.
“Area 10 only supports (BT) expanding to their designated transit funding area of the urbanized area, not the entire county,” Myers said. “They passed an ordinance to expand within Monroe County, not designated by their urban area. That is not what we support, as we are the public transit provider for the nonurban area of Monroe County.”
Myers said she was not told about the ordinance in advance and couldn’t comment publicly Wednesday because of a power outage.
She also said Area 10 expressed in a board resolution that it does not support “any potential supplanting of transportation services throughout Monroe County outside of the urbanized area”. That resolution was sent to council members late last month, she said.
Connell said several times Wednesday that BT does not plan to replace Rural Transit.
“Our intent is not to absorb any more than urban-to-urban,” Connell said. “There is no hidden agenda here. We have no intention of trying to absorb any of their rural-to-rural trips. That’s not on our radar.”
Connell said BT would eventually like to provide a fixed-route service from Bloomington to Ellettsville, however.
That, along with any expansion of service beyond Bloomington’s city limits, will be dependent on negotiations between BT and other entities.
The council’s approval does not guarantee any service outside the city, as any service outside city boundaries must be paid for through interlocal agreements, according to Volan.
Volan added that county general funds should not be used for any service expansion, to prevent doubly taxing Bloomington residents who pay both county and local taxes for transit. The ordinance will not obligate those living outside Bloomington to pay taxes for Bloomington Transit or other city services.
In addition, the ordinance only changes BT’s operating boundaries, not its taxing boundaries. It would require a new taxing district in which several jurisdictions have board seats, Volan said.
Volan also said, however, that the ordinance comes with potential consequences. For one, it will leave the city council with only oversight of BT’s budget to express any concerns over deals it may negotiate with entities outside the city.
Nevertheless, he passionately supported the ordinance.
“A vote for this ordinance is, among other things, a vote for a more urban Monroe County,” Volan said. “We are a metropolitan area, and this is a decisive step toward recognizing that we can’t just stay in city limits anymore.”
