Monroe County and the Town of Ellettsville are collaborating to ensure Rural Transit can continue to provide certain trips in 2024.
Last week, the county approved $88,000 in American Rescue Plan Act Dollars for the transit service — part of the $220,000 needed to guarantee it can provide the same trips it currently does.
The Town of Ellettsville will have to come up with the remaining $132,000.
A lack of state funding prompted the partnership. Starting next year, the Indiana Department of Transportation will no longer subsidize trips between two urbanized areas.
That's a result of pressure from the Federal Transit Administration, which told INDOT it would further scrutinize nonurban transit systems to ensure they’re not providing such trips.
Rural Transit currently provides trips between urbanized areas, such as from Ellettsville to the Walmart on Bloomington’s west side.
A Federal Transit Administration map showing the urbanized area (blue) in Monroe County. (Courtesy of Federal Transit Administration)
Although funding from Ellettsville is still up in the air, Chris Myers, the executive director of Area 10 Agency on Aging — the nonprofit that operates Rural Transit — said she’s glad negotiations are happening.
“I think it’ll be a wonderful relief for Rural Transit riders who have been anxious about losing that service,” Myers said. “Rural Transit is a trusted public service provider of transportation in Monroe County. We can provide that transportation service; we just need to have the local funds to support that.”
Chris Myers (Zoom)
Monroe County Council President Kate Wiltz described this effort as a stopgap while local government leaders look toward a long-term solution.
“It was earlier this year that we found out the state had informed Rural Transit that they were no longer able to serve the populations that they’d been serving for years,” Wiltz said. “There have been meetings with Bloomington Transit about maybe how to handle this … the latest I’ve heard is Bloomington Transit has not put together anything to take over those services.”
Kate Wiltz (Courtesy of Kate Wiltz)
In August, the Bloomington City Council authorized Bloomington Transit to negotiate agreements with Monroe County and the Town of Ellettsville to expand its service boundaries. The intent was to fill the gap in trips Rural Transit was expected to leave in 2024.
Ellettsville Town Council President William Ellis said while that option isn’t off the table entirely, the town is not prepared to negotiate any expansion with Bloomington Transit.
“It’s a more ubiquitous service because they do offer same-day pickup for people,” Ellis said. “(Bloomington Transit) would offer that, but the cost would be quite a bit more, and I just don’t think the town is large enough to have that type of cost, even though the service would be great.”
William Ellis (Alan Mbathi/IPB News)
Bloomington Transit is still able to expand its service boundaries if it wants to, though it’s not clear where that effort stands.
John Connell, Bloomington Transit’s general manager, previously told the city council the agency only intended to absorb trips Rural Transit wouldn’t be able to provide starting next year.
Connell could not be reached for an interview with WFIU/WTIU News.
The Ellettsville Town Council is expected to vote on Rural Transit funding at a Dec. 11 meeting. Ellis said the council will likely use money from an opioid lawsuit settlement.
However, that won’t be enough for the full $132,000 needed, meaning other funding sources will have to be found.
“We think we have enough of that to get us by the first couple of months,” Ellis said. “If the ridership is not as high as they thought, it might even go further. That gives us time to find other funding sources.”
As for what happens after 2024, Ellis said the town is committed to continuing service.
“We’re going to continue the service; at least the basic level to what people have had, whether that be with Rural Transit (or) whether that be with a private contractor,” Ellis said. “These are just kind of things that were thrown at the wall, and now we have to figure out which is going to be the most affordable and workable for the town. Our residents can rest assured we’re not going to leave them hanging.”
