The Woodlands will revamp its bus routes

Transit officials with The Woodlands are hoping a grant to revamp its commuter bus routes will help plan for the future as ridership continues to lag post-pandemic.

Ruthanne Haut, deputy director of community services for The Woodlands, said the township received a $400,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration in June to fund the work to develop a transit plan with updated routes.

The plan includes The Woodlands Express, which commutes to downtown Houston, and the township’s new pilot program to provide buses to Houston’s Energy Corridor along Interstate 10.

“We are looking into right now ridership and to right-size the service from where the ridership is now and where is might be predicted to go over the next couple years,” Haut said. “We are trending with the nation for transit agencies in an area with under 500,000 people which is fluctuating between 65-75 percent pre-covid transit ridership.”

The Woodlands Express is at about 60 percent of its pre-COVID-19 ridership, which averaged about 50,000 riders per month, Haut said.

Those numbers have dropped to about just over 20,000 riders per month to date this year. However, those numbers have increased from 2020 when ridership dropped to below 10,000 riders as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Texas. In 2021, the numbers increased slightly, with ridership averaging about 15,000 riders a month.

“The main fluctuation we see is Monday through Friday which is indicative that there is a work from home policies that are persisting with companies,” Haut said.

According to information from the American Public Transportation Association, the public transportation industry saw ridership rebound to more than 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels in September.

“Public transit agencies suffered catastrophic blows to ridership when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Systems saw significant declines in ridership as offices closed and Americans were urged to work from home for extended periods. But now, as we see more workers return to the office, more students return to school, and more community destinations such as restaurants, theaters, and retail stores reopen their doors, agencies from coast to coast are seeing a rise in ridership.”

Haut said the energy corridor route, which was delayed a year due to the pandemic, will begin the second year of its three-year pilot program in January. Ridership numbers have been lower than predicted and the service was cut from four departure times to two. In the program’s first month, there were 250 riders. That number has increased with it peaking in June with 726 riders.

The township received a $1.8 million grant from the Houston Galveston Area Council. A local 20 percent match was required, Haut said, half of which will be funded by the Energy Corridor District.

The buses leave the Sawdust Road Park and Ride station and stop at six locations between Texas 6 and the Kirkwood exit on Interstate 10, taking at least an hour one-way. The cost for a round-trip daily ticket is $13.

“We are just in a new world with transit,” Haut said. “We will see where the next year goes.”