Ridership is down on Durango Transit, a city-run operation that has reduced its services and had its budget slashed by a third in 2019.
Overall ridership on Durango Transit was down 25 percent in November compared with the same month in 2017, said Sarah Dodson, assistant director of transportation. But declines on routes vary. Ridership on the Walmart and Fort Lewis College loop is down 39 percent while trolley ridership is down 3 percent compared with November 2017.
This comes after the city eliminated bus service in May to Crestview and U.S. Highway 160 west and canceled routes to Mercy Regional Medical Center and Three Springs, an austerity measure that left dozens without access to public transportation.
Trolley service was also cut from three trips per hour to two, but that changed in October after drivers said they felt rushed to make their stops on time. The return of the extra trolley trip explains the smaller downtick in ridership compared to loop ridership, Dodson said.
Services were cut because the Colorado Department of Transportation restructured the way it allocates grants – money Durango Transit was 90 percent dependent on, Dodson said. The restructuring of grants meant Durango Transit got about 54 percent less money than it did the year previous, she said. The 2018 transit budget is $2,266,419. The 2019 transit budget is $1,676,909.
“We are definitely seeking any type of opportunity that will sustainably fund transit for the long term,” Dodson said. “That will have to become more and more creative as time goes on.”
Durango Transit officials had estimated ridership would fall about 30 percent when routes were cut. While officials are not too surprised about the 5 percent variance from their prediction to reality, they did notice something: Low-income pass purchases were up, even with fewer buses running. About 83 percent of Durango Transit riders said they were dependent on the service to get around, according to a ridership survey, Dodson said.
“I think maybe we underestimated the dependency of the low-income population,” she said.
Amber DeFrenchi, 28, has two young children, ages 4 and 1. She is one of the regular Transit riders hit by decreased service. She has to walk with her children along U.S. Highway 160 to get to the health and human services building from the Volunteers of America shelter where she’s staying. The risk of herself or her children being hit by a passing car is nerve-racking, she said.
“It makes it hard, like if I wanted to go grocery shopping or if I needed to get some resources, I have to take off work because it takes all day,” DeFrenchi said. “Simple things that take half an hour extend into four- or five-hour things because we’re on foot.”
Celestea Deane, 58, said she moved after the U.S. Highway 160 and Crestview route was canceled, in part, because she did not have access to transportation. She has respiratory difficulties, and dust from vehicles passing her on foot on Highway 160 exacerbated the problems, she said. She’s been harassed while walking and has had to climb hand and foot over snowbanks, she said.
“I think it’s a reflection of great hardship, and the people served no longer trust the transit authority to access their own livelihood,” Deane said. “It was very hurtful; it was cruel, actually.”
All Durango Transit routes, previous and current, serve low-income neighborhoods, which made the decision about where to cut difficult, Dodson said. The U.S. Highway 160 route was one of the lower performing routes, and that is why it was eliminated, she said.
But the city is doing what it can to get service to people who need it, she said. Durango has contracted with Road Runner Transit to replace the Three Springs-Mercy Regional Medical Center route and is in negotiations with the private transportation vendor to provide three trips from the Transit Center to the Tech Center off U.S. Highway 160.
“We have a responsibility and a service to provide to the community, and we’re trying to get back to those areas where people were really impacted by the service reduction,” Dodson said.
bhauff@durangoherald.com
