Plans to add a new fixed route bus schedule to the Sidney public transportation system will not add additional costs to city taxpayers, according to Sidney City Manager Gary Person.
A review of the application for federal and state transportation assistance shows that 75% of the startup and first-year operational costs will be paid by state and federal agencies, 25% and 50%, respectively. Of the remaining 25% or $71,151.50, Person said that with a commitment of sponsorship from the Cheyenne County Visitors Committee in the amount of $20,000, the first year operational costs will not exceed the planned budget for the dial-a-ride program.
The transportation assistance request includes funds for first-year salaries for a driver-coordinator and five part-time drivers. One of the part-time drivers would essentially provide float services for either the driver coordinator or other part-time drivers as required to fulfill an 80 Hour drive schedule. one part-time driver position would be used to facilitate training for other staff, in order to maintain the proposed six-day schedule. other than the driver coordinator position, the other part-time drivers will be hard without benefits.
The plan provides for $3000 in advertising costs to make the service known to potential riders. Currently, there are nine stops planned along a circuit that starts at Safeway and ends at the I- 80 interchange. the project came to be through discussions going back several years with chamber groups, business leaders, and residents, seeking to find solutions to commuting in town, particularly when gas prices were above $3.50 per gallon.
In fact, while making the determination on certain operational parameters, some costs were estimated on the more conservative side. One such example is fuel. The estimate for gas consumption for the two vehicles in the current fleet is estimated at 10,000 gallons sufficient to cover 30,000 miles of driving at $3.50 per gallon. regular gas as of this report was $2.74 per gallon at Western Express.
The bus will be decorated to conform with the historic downtown area of Sidney, through a wrapping process that will make the exterior of the shuttle looked like an old stagecoach. Patrons seeking to use the service will be provided with stop signs the detail the bus schedules benches to sit on lighting for safety and canopy covers to provide some shelter against inclement weather.
It is unknown presently how much utilization the fixed bus route will see, so it is difficult to project revenues for the first year. The application estimates that, based on current dial-a- ride patronage, approximately $18,840 in fare revenue should be generated from the fixed bus route. Riders, boarding the stagecoach, will pay a fare of one dollar per each one way destination point.
"We're hoping to duplicate the revenue that we generate from dial-a-ride program," said Person in projecting anticipated first-year revenue from the new fixed route project. There is some element of risk as Person notes."Nobody's got a crystal ball that can understand how this thing is going work," He said. It's going to take time for people to get used to it," he added noting that it will take time for the advertising and for people to get used to seeing the bus making its rounds to take effect on increasing ridership.
The current experimental route testing that was used to generate the initial stops was based on a calculation of how many stops could be accommodated within a one hour time period, while still facilitating on-the-hour scheduling for customer reliability. The route is subject to modification, based on a variety of factors such as concentration of ridership, schedule loading, and other factors. Person said that if ridership finds that more people on the north side are taking advantage of the system and some other stops are lightly used, it might mean adding an additional stop on the north side and skipping a less utilized up on the south side. With one bus dedicated to the project for now, the intention will be to ensure that the bus service gives each stop at the same time each hour.
Person sees the benefits for those without private transportation."(For) people with limited means, it really does does become very cost-effective thing," he said. Person also believes that the service will provide residents of the north side of town easy access between their homes and park service amenities such as a community center or the pool.
Part of the funds paying for this project are single year funds out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Pres. Obama signed into law early last year. As such, those funds are not recurring and cannot be expected to fund the project on a year-over-year basis. In his memo to city council members in preparation for the public hearing, Person said, "... important to understand this expansion will come at no additional cost to city government." Person also believe that with commitment of the Cheyenne County Visitors Committee on ongoing basis, there should be no adverse impact to city finances, in order to facilitate the fixed route transportation.
Much of the preliminary work has already been accomplished. Once final approval has been granted for the application, and the city Council has authorized the city manager to carry the project forward, the city will begin making improvements to the storage facility for the vehicles which will be at the old former FEC building at 1433 Illinois. The FEC building, person notes was purchased with city economic development funds In anticipation of this project several years ago, and what will be repaid over time via a rent schedule of approximately $1000 per month. This will allow those funds to be re-utilized for other economic development purposes.
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