PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — For 140 years, public transportation has been a staple in the Fox Cities.
But Valley Transit’s usage has declined for two straight years and is down 41% since 2019.
“We’re having trouble finding enough drivers, commercial drivers, to drive the buses,” said Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald. “And so ultimately, we had to curtail some of the services temporarily until we get enough employees back.”
The number is down from about 36 drivers in 2019 to 24 drivers today, and its ridership has suffered.
It’s cyclical; with fewer drivers, you have fewer routes. With fewer routes, you have fewer riders. And with fewer riders, municipalities need to make up the money to recruit those drivers back.
But Valley Transit says things are looking up.
Staffing levels beginning to improve
“Remarkably, the last month has been pretty good,” said McDonald. “I don’t know what’s changed, but we’ll keep working on it. You know, it takes a long time to get somebody trained to drive a bus.”
Drivers must have logged close to 500 hours before they’re ready to drive, according to McDonald. He’s confident ridership will return to 2019 levels if staffing levels bounce back, which would enable more bus routes.
Even with its lower ridership, Valley Transit is still fully funded with a mix of federal, state and municipality funds. To be clear, it isn’t lacking staff because of a lack of funds, but rather, a lack of qualified workers.
Appleton is the biggest municipality Valley Transit serves, but eight others also are part of the bus service. Those communities are Buchanan, Fox Crossing, Grand Chute, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Little Chute, Menasha and Neenah.
Appleton mayor committed to Valley Transit, regardless of rider numbers
Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford is quick to point to Valley Transit’s benefits for the city, regardless of its ridership or profitability.
“This is a critical system for the people who use it every day, whether they’re getting to jobs in the community or they’re getting to medical appointments,” said Woodford. “For the folks who need to utilize our transit services, it’s really their only means of getting around economically. And that provides a public benefit.”
Woodford continued, “There are a lot of things in the public sector that we are not operating because they’re profitable. We don’t run a library because we make money on it. We don’t have a fire service because it’s profitable. We don’t bill you when your house burns down, we come and help. And the same is true for public transportation.”
We provide those resources so that people have a means of getting around and getting to jobs. And hopefully, for many of them, they are able to improve their personal circumstances because they have that chance.
Appleton pays the most of any municipality, but the other eight all pay into Valley Transit as well. Even while it looks to stabilize its declining ridership, Valley Transit’s future appears stable.
Comments