City bus ridership falls
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Riders board an evening route on a Janesville Transit System bus on Tuesday.
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JANESVILLE — Conventional wisdom says that when the economy goes down, bus ridership goes up.
But nothing has been conventional about Janesville's economy this year.
So the Janesville transit director isn't necessarily surprised that transit ridership is down 8.9 percent in the first half of 2009 from the same period in 2008.
Several factors seem to be driving ridership down, Director Dave Mumma said.
Gas prices have fallen from last summer, reducing an incentive to take the bus instead of the car.
More than 60 percent of Janesville bus riders have household incomes of $20,000 or less, Mumma said. Those people have been hit hardest by the recession.
"Some of the jobs that they had, the marginal jobs they had, are being taken either by people who had better paying jobs and were laid off or those jobs don't exist anymore," Mumma said.
While the unemployed might still take the bus for errands, they no longer have to get to work every day, he said.
The system has seen a 17.1 percent decrease in "tripper" routes, including routes that take students to school, according to a memo from Mumma. That might be because more parents are home to take their children to school instead of sending them on the bus, he said.
Nighttime service is down 15.7 percent.
The ridership drop has grown even steeper in the second quarter of the year, with ridership down 14.8 percent from April to June 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. It's the biggest quarterly drop since 1997, when fare increases and the relocation of Marshall Middle School led to a 20.6 percent drop.
Advertising revenue also is down 46.4 percent.
By June 30, the city had taken in only 42.2 percent of its expected revenue for the year. Meanwhile, expenses per revenue passenger have risen from $6.63 a trip in 2008 to $7.26 this year.
The news isn't all bad.
Operating expenses are down 0.13 percent because of lower fuel prices and a mild winter. Paratransit ridership has jumped 17.4 percent following the cancellation of several private transit programs, most notably Mercy in Motion, Mumma wrote.
But unless ridership starts picking up again—and indications are that it won't—the city will have to take a hard look at the transit program in its 2010 budget, Mumma said.
"If you look at a service that is not performing well, you do have to swallow hard and say, 'OK, is this something we can continue to provide if we are not utilizing it to the extent that they might?'"
But cuts could hurt the transit system's core customers who depend on it for transportation, Mumma said.
"There are people who are working, for example, at night now because the (nighttime) bus service exists," he said. "If that service goes away, the possibility exists they might not be able to hold that job in the evening anymore."
The city council also is scheduled to consider a possible fare hike after delaying a 25-cent increase scheduled to take effect July 1. But that, too, could hurt low-income riders, Mumma said.
"It's difficult, difficult decisions that have to be made," he said.
Token programs down, too
Two transit programs—one established, one new—also are languishing during Janesville's economic recession.
The Janesville City Council established a token program for local charities this spring. It allows community organizations to buy bus tokens for 60 cents each after buying 500 tokens at the regular rate. Tokens normally cost $10 for 10. The organizations can then pass the tokens on to their clients.
But only one organization, House of Mercy, has taken advantage of the program, said Dave Mumma, transit director.
"I'm a bit surprised" that more groups aren't participating, he said.
The youth token program, on the other hand, has been losing participants for years. The program allows agencies serving youth to buy bus tokens for 60 cents each through Partners in Prevention. Children then can use the tokens to get home from after-school programs.
The program peaked in 2005, when 2,206 tokens were used. Through the first half of 2009, just 219 tokens were collected, compared to 879 in the first half of 2008.
"We continue to monitor the results, but if no improvement is seen, this program will have to be re-evaluated," Mumma wrote in a memo to the city.
Aug 13, 2009 at 9:37 a.m.
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make a new plan Stan!! and.....
Aug 13, 2009 at 9:25 a.m.
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gary - You never seem to fail to give me a laugh!
Aug 13, 2009 at 9:17 a.m.
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ridership down... raise fares... hmmm?
Aug 13, 2009 at 8:43 a.m.
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that's exactly what I mean, Macdaddy. JTS is a small town system & small town systems are generally used by disabled, elderly & kids--those that can not drive. Janesville is not big enough to support buses going everywhere in the area. JTS does a pretty good job with what they have to work with.
Aug 13, 2009 at 8:30 a.m.
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many people can't use the bus for work, because the bus route isn't handy or because the only jobs they can find are in other cities. I support a local based train system, because i know many people drive a decent distance by car to get to and from work each day.
Aug 13, 2009 at 8:21 a.m.
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Short buses are something JTS has considered, but they cost $$ too & lots of it. Then, what route do you put them on? Believe it or not, not every route runs empty all day long. There are "peek" times when the buses may have standing room only--if there were short buses, JTS would have to turn passengers away! About the only place it makes sense to have short buses is on Nightside, but does the benefit outweigh the cost of buying special buses for Nightside? So far, the studies done IN HOUSE have said no.
Public transit is very widely used in larger cities. And larger cities (like Madison & Milwaukee) is where light rail would be located & USED. JTS is attempting to serve the entire town without a lot of resources. For the people that need the JTS, they don't run often enough or go to enough places.
Aug 13, 2009 at 7:40 a.m.
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The issue of JTS losing revenue due to a decline in passengers has been discussed here in the past. A perfectly logical solution was to eventually replace some of the buses with "short" buses. The only reason I can think of that it wasn't adopted is because of the stigma associated with "short buses".
Aug 13, 2009 at 2:16 a.m.
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It's probably because the bus drivers drive like morons. Speeding through unmarked intersections and not slowing down especially when they don't have the "right of way". I've had a few close calls, avoided only by me slowing down at the intersections checking for traffic. I wouldn't ride with them idiots either.
Aug 13, 2009 at 12:09 a.m.
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I agree, kiowamohican. Let's start by stopping building all those money-losing roads. Not one road in the state has made a single dime since construction, and yet this boondoggle has never been evaluated with the strict standards applied to mass transit. One wonders why the public expects mass transit to always make back what we put into it, but just expect roads to always be there.
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The fact is that all transportation is down significantly due to the recession. My brother works for a for-profit railroad and they barely keep him working lately. So whatever uniqueness you assign to mass transit does not hold water.
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It's frustrating to think of buses running empty, but you have to think of this as a service that supports the business climate in a community as well, enabling people to get to the jobs that are increasingly located at far-flung industrial parks.
Aug 12, 2009 at 11:06 p.m.
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This story should just show one the total fallacy of public transportation, and why light rail, and all the garbage being currently proposed around the state, will simply be a massive $$$ pit. One that will see HUGE costs to build, very few riders once it gets built, and higher and higher taxes to the general public to keep the failed, money loosing program, going every year.
Aug 12, 2009 at 10:42 p.m.
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"Get on the bus, Gus.."
Aug 12, 2009 at 9:39 p.m.
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Sometimes you have to do whats right and not based on capitalism. All I'm saying is maybe there's more efficient ways to provide this service and keep the focus there. Instead of saying "can't do this, start thinking about how to keep doing this. Not only because some people need this but it's better for the enviroment.Maybe if you want to drive that gas sucking car you need to subsidize the mass transit system. And to all you that say it's your right to drive it's not all right to continue making that carbon footprint. Think about it, that "right" and all the other outdated rights are killing life as we know it and will continue if we insist on taking that path. Take the bus to the farmers market, take the bus to work, take the bus....
Aug 12, 2009 at 7:18 p.m.
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Any fewer riders and they'll be driving around with no passengers most of the time like Beloit does.
Aug 12, 2009 at 7:06 p.m.
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If JTS goes down, it will be very disappointing for many of the people I know who uses the bus system. My daughters will truly miss the wonderful bus drivers who show pride in their passengers. Hopefully the economy will pick up soon so people can take the bus instead of using and wasting gas.
Aug 12, 2009 at 5:56 p.m.
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Everyone is literally getting thrown under the bus these days. That's where everyone is, under the bus.
Aug 12, 2009 at 5:39 p.m.
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Less jobs, less people, more unemployed, less money to spend, less reasons to go out.
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