3 Ways Rural & Small Urban Transit Are Re-thinking How To Work with Social Distancing
Now and Looking Toward the Future
Written by Daisy Wall, Routematch
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3 Ways Rural & Small Urban Transit Are Re-thinking How To Work with Social Distancing
Now and Looking Toward the Future
Written by Daisy Wall, Routematch
3 Ways Rural & Small Urban Transit Are Re-thinking How To Work with Social Distancing
Now and Looking Toward the Future
Written by Daisy Wall, Routematch
![people people](http://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/people.png)
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“We’re here.”
That’s the most common reply when simply asked how small urban and rural transit agencies are doing. “Its crazy,” “Hanging in there,” and “Inspired,” are close runner ups.
In rural areas and small towns in America, public and non-profit transit systems are on the front line for essential services to their local communities. Especially for vulnerable populations that lack alternatives for medical appointments, essential jobs, or groceries, getting a safe and reliable ride is crucial. But this social distancing is seriously changing how these transit systems operate. The fundamentals of transit operations –such as picking up riders, sharing trips in enclosed vehicles, cleaning, lending a neighborly hand (from helping with grocery bags to securing a wheelchaired rider) and even collecting fares – are suddenly suspect. Agencies are forced to create their own playbooks as they go.
“We’re exhausted at the rate of change and decisions that need to be made every day,” said Gail Nehls, Executive Director of Envida in Colorado Springs, for the first few weeks of the pandemic, “but we consider our agency and staff to be resilient and innovative as we rethink our service delivery.”
“Our ridership comprises some of the most vulnerable."
Hank Braaksma, Seniors’ Resource Center
Safety – for riders and staff— has been top of the list for most agencies. For example, with a shortage of cleaning supplies, rural transit agencies in Kentucky have used proximity to distilleries to their advantage, brewing their own hand sanitizers.“
“We have plenty of alcohol here; we might as well put it to good use,” explained Pam Shepherd, executive director at Federated Transportation Services of Bluegrass, who has also had to improvise in other ways to keep both drivers and riders safe. “We’ve duct-taped shower curtains in our mini-vans and strung up caution tape in our larger vehicles to limit the number of passengers per vehicle.”
“We consider our agency and staff to be resilient and innovative as we rethink our service delivery.”
Gail Nehls, Executive Director
Envida
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![Inside Vehicle Using shower curtains with duct tape to protect both drivers and riders](https://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Picture-2@3x.png)
Using shower curtains with duct
tape to protect both drivers and riders
Despite such hardships and unknowns, the on-the-ground creativity and resiliency most transit professionals share, and how quickly they have pivoted from one issue to the next to have been astounding. Every day seems an experiment, and it has not stopped transit directors from striving for practical solutions. Already, we have seen transit agencies transforming service in their community. Same for how they use their existing resources and technology and service delivery. These day-to-day improvisations due to social distancing have added up. In some cases, they have formed some emerging “re-thinks” that appears to be sticking. How long these “re-thinks” will linger, and how they will change the future of transit is certainly worth following.
Re-thinking what “service” means for public transit
Even pre- Covid-19, rural and small urban transit agencies already assumed the role of jack-of-all trades for their local communities, with many also covering large swaths of service areas across multiple counties. Often, drivers personally know riders as neighbors, and their service is the only ride in town. Furthermore, riders skew older, which makes them more vulnerable. Distances between homes and businesses span longer and pose a barrier to access to hospitals and food.
As social distancing persists, more needs have surfaced, spurring an acute one for additional safety-net services. This is not just to accommodate new destinations such as more hospitals or food banks, but also for new types of service. In a town of 27,000 people in Boyne, MI, for example, Charlevoix County Transit has transformed their service, dedicating vehicles to delivering food.
![Jo Flaherty Jo Flaherty, Mobility Manager at FTSB in Kentucky, makes home grown hand sanitizers for the agency’s staff](https://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/joflaherty1.png)
Jo Flaherty, Mobility Manager at FTSB in Kentucky, makes home grown hand sanitizers for the agency’s staff
From Easter baskets and homework to coronavirus test results
“In Michigan, our Stay At Home Order has been extended, so in a partnership with our Commission on Aging, we take meals to seniors who can’t leave their homes. We’ve had staff members ride along with the drivers to help deliver which makes the delivery process more efficient,” said Jill Drury, director at Charlevoix County Transit.
Plus, the agency shuttles senior meals from the local public school kitchen and the local deli in a more remote part of the MI peninsula, Beaver Island. In addition to delivering meals, the transit agency delivers mail, groceries and makes a stop at the island’s two airports when needed to pick up and deliver packages coming from the mainland.
"We take meals to seniors who can’t leave their homes."
Jill Drury, Charlevoix County Transit
“We’re in an area that relies heavily on the service industry, so we have a lot of residents laid off right now,” added Jill. “Seniors and families here need our help, so we’re doing our part to help them in whatever way we can.”
While meals and prescriptions tend to be the most common, agencies have reported delivering a span of other services, from Easter baskets and homework to coronavirus test results.
Re-thinking communications and technology
With remote work required for transit agency staff members deemed non- essential, quarantined, or in self isolation, communications amongst staff members as well as to riders have presented its fair share of challenges. Some agencies, for example, struggled with outfitting their remote staff with laptops so staff workers had to fall back on home computers. Others had to tap into whatever funds that could be quickly cobbled together. Changes in service hours- along with boarding policies, fare changes, or even requests for help- often need to be speedily communicated to riders. Pelivan Transit in Big Cabin Oklahoma, for example, found that when drivers delivered meals to seniors, seniors were forking over half of their meals to their pets as they could not readily secure pet food.
![Charlevoix Charlevoix County Transit driver picks up meal at school and delivers them to students.](https://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Charlevoix3x-300x253.png)
Charlevoix County Transit driver picks up meal at school and delivers them to students
![Pelivan Pelivan](http://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Picture-5@2x.png)
Driver at Pelivan Transit...
“We reached out to the communities we serve"
The agency’s executive director immediately ran a campaign for pet food donations so the agency could deliver it along with meals to homebound seniors owning pets. She leaned into using automated phone call outs to riders to quickly notify riders of the need. “We reached out to the communities we serve and worked with our Area Agency on Aging to put out a mass call out message, explaining to them how we were seeking their help,” said Kendra McGeady, executive director, Pelivan Transit. The agency provided all donors one free trip. “We got a huge response; we now have tons of pet food and a good list of seniors who need it.”
So has another executive director in Denver, Colorado. “We used our notifications system to request riders with cold or flu symptoms to please cancel their trip in the interest of community wellness,” said Hank Braaksma, Director of Transportation Services, Seniors’ Resource Center. “Our ridership comprises some of the most vulnerable. Yes, it created cancellations, but it helped contain the virus in our area.”
Avoiding contact also means that handling cash, tickets and vouchers becomes trickier. Numerous agencies have reported going fare-free to avoid it altogether whereas others are using contactless automated fare payment technology to cut back on cash handling. In some cases, family members, including those who live out of state, have been using account-based systems to deposit funds into the transit accounts of loved ones who may be financially struggling or unable to do so.
“We got a huge response; we now have tons of pet food and a good list of seniors who need it.”
Kendra McGeady, Pelivan Transit
![Driver at Pelivan Transit delivers donated pet food with meals to seniors. Driver at Pelivan Transit delivers donated pet food with meals to seniors.](https://routematch.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Picture-4.png)
...delivers donated pet
food with meals to seniors.
Re-thinking public transit service delivery
Notably harder hit in smaller urban and rural communities are fixed route services. This is no surprise as riders are reluctant to sit shoulder to shoulder, even as many agencies are limiting the number of passengers and have put appropriate social distancing policies in place. Boarding only through the backdoor and blocking off seats are a few common measures introduced to keep driver to rider and rider to rider close contact at bay.
One agency in Alabama has reported that it deploys two buses to each fixed route stop, having a spare “tag along” bus for overflow for additional safety. Despite these measures, many transit directors report deep dips in ridership ranging from 30-90%, prompting transit agencies to drastically reduce service hours or temporarily discontinue fixed route service. One small urban agency in Maryland, for instance, converted a fixed route bus into a demand response one. By doing so, a rider can now call and schedule trips and pick- ups instead of waiting for one on a published schedule. This keeps crowding down and enables agency staff to know how many people are at each stop.
“It just made sense for safety,” said Suzanne Kalmbacher, Transit Chief, Cecil County Transit. “We still have people who need to get to medical and dialysis appointments, but we also wanted to limit gatherings at stops or on buses. Having insight into the number of passengers our drivers would be picking up at each stop was also important. If there were more requests, we’d just send a second bus.”
“We need to look forward and build that foundation now.”
Camille Pattison, Nashua Transit System
Other agencies have taken it a step further and are now exploring how demand response or paratransit service can be more spontaneous. They can then operate akin to transportation network companies or taxis, with just one rider per vehicle. This lets riders book trips on the same day, or on demand through a mobile app and better adhere to social distancing.
“We set up a same day call and ride service during this time and are expanding and refining this model. We think our community will expect a different type of service from us when we come out of this, and it will take time,” predicts Camille Pattison, Transit Director at Nashua Transit System in New Hampshire. “We need to look forward and build that foundation now.”
These types of on-demand service models can bring much needed relief to agencies operating with driver and scheduler shortages while also enabling more flexible services for riders. It also allows agencies to extend into hard to reach areas with low density or can be particularly beneficial for riders requiring special care or isolation such as the immuno-comprised. By doing so, reduced contact can be even more stringently applied and extra load times can be built in for deeper cleaning pre and post rider pick up.
Looking Ahead
As much as we can hope for a quick economic recovery and rider behavior changes, it is unlikely it will happen as fast as we would all like it to. These “re-thinks” and other real time insights from transit professionals remind us of how an unprecedented conundrum like social distancing from Covid-19 can thrust us to re-tool what we have to problem-solve and reshape. This problem-solving will need to continue as states begin opening up.
While most of us in public transit (along with the rest of the world) are still trying to figure things out, the ingenuity and herculean efforts rural and small urban transit professionals do to protect the health and livelihood of people in our communities continue, round the clock. Perhaps and mistakenly overlooked by some, but never by those who need them the most.
They are here.
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Written by: Daisy Wall, Chief Revenue Officer, Routematch- a technology company that works with 500 transit agencies and is committed to building holistic mobility ecosystems that leave no person behind.
From Daisy: “This article was written based on conversations with our clients whom I have been proud to know and work with for the past decade. These transit agency directors graciously and candidly shared their experiences and how they have used technology to get through this time with me and our team. We would like to thank them and all our clients for everything they do for their communities.”
Photo credits: Charlevoix County Transit, Federated Transportation Services of Bluegrass, Pelivan Transit
“We think our community will expect a different type of service from us when we come out of this.”
Camille Pattison, Transit Director
Nashua Transit System
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