CHARLESTON, W.Va.— Less than a month ago KRT’s Board voted to get rid of Sunday services and change the frequency of how many times the buses run on 11 of their routes, and now they’re behind the scenes trying to make sure that the buses still run when it’s convenient for their riders.
KRT Executive Director Sean Hill said that once the board approved the changes, a team behind the scenes kicked in to start preparing the plans.
Sean Hill
“The changes that were approved last month, approved by the board last month, what happened then behind the scenes, our operations team going into working out the different timetables, the schedules, etc.,” Hill said.
And since the operations team has started working on these plans, they are taking their time so they can make them to fit their ridership.
“Because when we looked at those 11 routes and we said Hey, we’re going to decrease the frequencies of the routes, we want to make sure that we are doing our homework to make sure that those frequencies of those trips make sense as far as ridership,” Hill said.
And the thing that Hill said that made planning these trips that make sense easier, is accurate data that they can now capture.
“Because we have the data now and the technology to show us when and where people get on and off the bus,” Hill said. “Which is really helpful for us because we’re not just making assumptions, we’re actually going off of real information of when people use our service. So, what we will do then, we’ll look at that data, and make the decisions that best serve those passengers that get on and off, to make sure our buses still arrive”
And while the changes will help KRT save money in the long run, Hill also said that it will benefit the passengers as well.
“The tough part for our board was looking at a route, South Hills route, where it was subsidized up to $35 per passenger, well. that was when it was operating all day, eight different stops during the day,” Hill said. “If you decrease that to four different trips, and that driver can then, during the other part of the day, be doing a different trip, you can help increase those efficiency and lower those subsidies per route.”
The change for routes and the end of Sunday service won’t go into effect until February 2025, but Hill and the operations team hopes to have the schedules printed and posted for passengers to see them at the end of this year, because there aware that riders will need time to adjust to the changes.
“Making sure that we give people a couple of months to figure out how my life is going to change,” Hill said. “We’re cognizant of the fact that these changes are going to have an impact on people’s day to day, how do I travel to and from work, school, appointments, etc.”