Transit agency’s board OKs bus-route overhaul

LITTLE ROCK — The board governing Rock Region Metro on Tuesday approved a sweeping proposal to overhaul the Pulaski County transit agency’s regular bus routes, with underperforming routes being dropped and replaced with on-demand microtransit vans and resources being shifted to more popular routes that will allow more frequent stops and expanded night and weekend service.

Little Rock and North Little Rock also will get new cross-town transfers, eliminating the need to go downtown to make such transfers, under the Ride 2020 plan, which is designed to make transit service more efficient and accessible in a bid to attract new riders.

Although the plan is budget neutral, an element of Tuesday’s vote also changes the cost allocation formula used to figure how the transit agency’s major funding partners — Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County — shoulder their shares going forward.

Riders can expect to see the changes implemented beginning in November, agency officials said.

The took place against a backdrop of plunging ridership brought about by the coronavirus, with several bus drivers testing positive for the virus and the union representing the drivers pushing back against Ride 2020, an acronym for Route Innovation, Development and Evaluation.

But by the time the board voted 12-0, the union had decided to drop its opposition with an agreement to meet with the agency staff over the next five weeks. The final plan saw four changes that were prompted by public comments, including one from drivers.

“Congratulation, folks,” board Chairman Art Kinnaman said after the roll call. “It passes.”

After the vote, Charles Frazier, Rock Region’s executive director, thanked the board, staff, elected officials, community and neighborhood leaders as well as riders for engaging in the yearlong planning process that he said will deliver “more, better and more innovative transit service to Central Arkansans.”

Sara Lenehan, the Little Rock finance director and a board member, said developing the final plan was “challenging, but I think we really accomplished something here.”

“The end result is that we are a much more flexible organization because we will be able to make changes as service and need demands without being strapped to the old funding method that had such unintended consequences when we tried to make good decisions for the community and the economic benefit of the organization.”

The plan was developed under a contract worth up to $300,000 with Transportation Management & Design Inc., a San Diego consulting firm specializing in mass transit.

Although routes will be dropped, the proposed restructured routes and microtransit zones will be closer to a larger percentage of the population, according to the consultants.

In addition to expanded service hours on weekdays and weekends, more frequent stops and additional microtransit zones under the proposal, service will be simplified, more direct and faster, and it will extend bus service on Chenal Parkway to the Promenade at Chenal for the first time.

During the week, some routes will run an additional hour, to 9 p.m., and Saturday service will run an additional two hours, to 6 p.m. Both weekday and Saturday service start at 5 a.m.

Sunday service will be expanded an additional four hours, going from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It now runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Two routes will be dropped from the system under the proposal — Route 17 Mabelvale/Downtown, which officials say is largely redundant, and Route 25 Pinnacle Mountain, which is the route with the lowest ridership in the system.

Nine other routes will be shifted permanently to microtransit zones under the draft network plan.

Two express routes to Maumelle and to Sherwood and Jacksonville won’t be restored, either.

But Tuesday’s vote also allows Frazier to negotiate transit options with those and other communities, likely some form of microtransit service.

Maumelle and Sherwood will be allowed to keep their seats on the board until negotiation concludes.

Microtransit is an on-demand service for areas where transit demand is less robust, in which smaller vehicles are used to pick up people at their door and take them to stops on regular routes. Riders can track their vehicles with arrival push notifications and doorto-door service, and they can reach places not accessed by regular bus service if those places fall within the zone.