By JUDE RATCLIFF/Staff Contributor
The city of Tyler is considering making proposals to its transit system. The changes would affect University of Texas at Tyler students who use city buses.
Among the proposed changes, which will lighten the load on public transportation resources, is the conversion of some low ridership routes into micro-transit routes. On a micro-transit route, riders would have to use an app or make a call from a stop on the route to request a ride. Route 21, known as the Campus Connector, would become a micro-transit route if the council eventually approves the measure.
Though the proposal is still in the early stages of development, it is not yet clear how the Patriot Express, a service that allows UT Tyler students to use their student ID for Tyler Transit, will interact with the new systems proposed by the city.
Serving the Community
Russ Jackson, the City of Tyler transit manager, said that the decision to switch to micro-transit may actually cut down wait time for those who already rely on public transit to get around town.
“It’s an actual improvement,” Jackson said. “But then we’re also not just driving in circles with a bus, and so there’s more accident capabilities [and] liability issues that we’re also addressing.”
At a community meeting on Oct. 10 at Glass Recreation Center, Jackson said the city is trying to balance the need to reduce costs with the need to serve residents who rely on bus service.
“We don’t want to lose ridership, but we know that people are on fixed incomes,” he said. “We know that people have no incomes, and so we did not desire to go down that road (of eliminating service),” Jackson said.
Jackson also said that reducing the time buses run by one hour each weekday could save the city $5,100 in resources.
Serving Students
Robert Cromley, UT Tyler’s executive director of emergency management and safety, said that though UT Tyler did not work directly with the city of Tyler when the proposed changes were planned, they did “discuss changing the route to have stops on inner campus.”
He added that “they were to come to campus and drive the proposed route, but haven’t done so.”
Students who rely on public transportation said that with the current state of public transportation, the current schedule can be difficult to work with when they’re on a tight schedule. Micro-transit options aim to make routes more accessible and hours of operation more flexible.
“Almost everyone in the bus system is very kind, but the hours and places they go are limited,” Barbara Martin Moro, a Mass Communications major at UT Tyler, said. “Although, it is also true that the bus is empty most of the time, since most people I assume have cars.”
The city’s original proposal, which has since been changed following community input, called for a one-time increase of 100% for each fare and the abolishment of Saturday routes. The latest plan for micro-transit routes is a response to those who raised concerns with the initial proposal, feeling that it didn’t address the needs of bus riders.
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