Council votes to eliminate Route 4, modify other Transit services

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Porterville City Council, the council took action to eliminate Route 4 on the fixed Transit routes and modify other Transit services, after hosting a public hearing and gaining feedback from the community on the matter.

Richard Tree, the manager of the Transit services for the City of Porterville, presented the Council with a number of recommended Transit modifications. First, he recommended the Council vote to eliminate both Route 4 and Route 6 on the Transit fixed route service. He suggested this due to low ridership on these routes. Tree stated his preference for ridership is 15 passengers an hour on any given route. Route 4 averages roughly four passengers per hour, and Route 6 is averaging around 5 passengers per hour. Tree said the routes would be supplemented with the city’s microtransit shuttle program, Transport, allowing riders access to all of the destinations that are along these routes.

Tree also suggested the Council vote to temporarily reduce Dial-aRide service hours to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and set a $100 fee for a 31-day pass for Transit services. Tree informed the council Transit will continue to evaluate possible expansion of the city’s microtransit service, Transport, to areas including Lindsay, Terra Bella, Springville and Woodville, and that there’s some consideration as to how to provide cashless payment options to Transit riders.

When the public hearing was opened for comment from the public, City Manager John Lollis read aloud the two comments that had been submitted via email. The first comment was submitted by Lisa Dunkin who expressed her concerns about the elimination of Route 6. Dunkin said the count of riders on the route may be misrepresented due to frequently malfunctioning fare boxes. She also said there are two large apartment complexes that are destinations along the route, and many people from those apartment complexes ride on Route 6. Dunkin stated the new microtransit system isn’t convenient for those who ride the bus to work every day, and she hasn’t been educated enough about the microtransit system.

The second and final comment for the public hearing came from Jack Winter who questioned as to why the city has been cutting the Transit services. Winter pointed out the city had voted to eliminate two routes previously, and wondered why they were considering the elimination of two more. He asked how people would be able to go to the hospital and Family Healthcare Network (FHCN), and stated he would prefer to stick to the regular fixed route, rather than to pay $6 for a round trip via Transport.

After Lollis finished reading both comments aloud to the Council, council members began their own discussion on the matter.

Councilwoman Virginia Gurrola expressed concern about the elimination of access to FHCN, and stated she’s hesitant to remove the route as she knew FHCN had once wanted a stop at their facility for their patients. She also questioned Tree as to wheth

er it was true if the fare box on the Route 6 bus was malfunctioning frequently. Tree candidly responded yes, the boxes do malfunction, but there’s an automatic passenger counter on the busses that provide a secondary count of the amount of passengers on the bus throughout the day.

Mayor Martha Flores questioned Tree about FHCN and if they still provide transportation services of their own to the community. Tree stated it was his understanding FHCN still provides their patients with transportation services to their facility.

Councilman Milt Stowe asked Tree if reservations for Transport can

be made on a monthly basis, or if riders had to make reservations on a daily basis. Tree stated there’s no limit to the number of reservations a rider can make at one time, and Transit riders can schedule a trip whenever they needed or wanted to. Tree also statedriders can book trips in advance with no time limit. He also stated with microtransit, riders have no trip restrictions.

Councilman Daniel Penaloza asked Tree if Transit passengers had been notified about the proposed changes. Tree stated he had taken all of the appropriate steps to notify passengers, including publicizing the notice in the newspaper 14 days before the hearing and placing flyers in each of the Transit vehicles for passengers to

see. Penaloza then asked Tree why he proposed a $100 fee for a 31-day fare pass. Tree stated the based it off an average of two rides a day, five days a week. This totals out to roughly $120 a month, but Tree said he decided on a $100 fee as an incentive for riders. Tree also explained the 31-day pass can be used for all of the Transit services. Penaloza finished by suggesting Tree implement a transition program for Route 6 riders, especially because of the FHCN destination along the route.

Last to speak was Vice Mayor Monte Reyes, who questioned Tree about the flexibility of being able to increase services and destinations in the future if needed. Tree stated there’s flexibility and evaluations of each route are constant.

Tree gave options to the Council, who was hesitant to eliminate Route 6 entirely, and stated the route could be modified and made shorter, or temporarily suspended until ridership is back up to average.

Gurrola motioned the Council approve the presented recommendations with the exception of keeping Route 6 in place through the end of the year, and educating Route 6 riders of the microtransit services offered in the meantime. The motion was seconded by Reyes, and was unanimously approved by the council.

Route 6 will remain as is until the first of 2021. The elimination of Route 4, the reduction of DialA-ride service hours and the $100 fee for a 31-day pass will become effective on October 1.