By Scott Smith
The generation born in the 1950s might remember the last time Kokomo had a fixed-route bus system, but the last bus stopped running in 1964, according to area planning officer Larry Ives.
Tuesday, Ives unveiled an unexpected plan to bring public bus service back to Kokomo.
Two fixed routes — one circling the north part of Kokomo and one circling the southern half — would run out of a downtown transfer station.
Buses would make the loop once per hour, stopping at what Ives termed “major generators” — the hospitals, IUK, Ivy Tech, the malls, etc.
The service would start up with $289,000 in federal stimulus money; enough, Ives said, to purchase two buses and cover about half of the first year’s operating costs.
From there, the service could either expand or fold, depending on how many riders it attracts, Ives said.
In addition, the service would be added as a supplement to the city’s existing public transit services — the First City Rider program and the Senior Bus Service.
Neither of those programs would be affected by the addition of the proposed bus lines, Ives said.
Wednesday, Ives’ bus plan received a preliminary recommendation from the Kokomo/Howard County Governmental Coordinating Council’s technical advisory committee.
Today, that plan faces a crucial vote when the coordinating council policy board meets at 2 p.m. in the first floor conference room, City Hall, 100 S. Union St.
The policy board includes elected officials representing the city and county councils, the Howard County commissioners and Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight.
Kokomo is in line to receive just over $1 million in stimulus funds to improve the public transit system, and the board has already voted to spend up to $800,000 of that amount refurbishing the former Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch on South Union Street.
If the Federal Transportation Administration approves those plans, the coordinating council would move its offices — including dispatch for the Senior Bus Service and the new bus system — into the former BMV branch.
Until Wednesday, Ives had proposed spending the remainder of the money to launch a public-owned taxi service.
Ives proposed that idea earlier this year, after expressing dissatisfaction with the city’s sole First City Rider provider, Rhino Taxi.
“We had real concerns about whether Rhino was going to be able to continue to provide that service; it was a backup plan,” Ives said of his proposal to use public funds to purchase taxis and hire drivers.
Wednesday, Ives said Rhino’s service has improved, with shorter wait times for rides and fewer customer complaints.
In August, when First City Rider was using different dispatching software and Ives was proposing what amounted to a public takeover of the service, Rhino was officially “late” (arriving more than 30 minutes after the promised time) more than 30 percent of the time.
Wednesday, Ives said Rhino is now late about 20 percent of the time. He said the goal is to get that number under 5 percent.
With Rhino’s service improving, Ives is proposing to use the money he was prepared to spend on the taxi service to start a bus system. He is no longer considering the publicly run taxi idea.
Some reservations
The fixed-route bus idea has been batted around for years, often directly after the publication of various community “needs assessment” survey results.
In 2002, and again in 2008, the coordinating council hired a consultant to evaluate the city’s public transit system.
To then-Mayor Jim Trobaugh’s dismay, the 2002 consultants recommended moving away from the First City Rider system and to a fixed-route bus system.
Michael Grovak, chief of transit planning and economics for Indianapolis consultants Bernardin, Lochmueller & Associates, said ridership of the First City Rider cab service and Spirit of Kokomo bus service was lower than in similar cities and a small fixed-route system would be better used.
“We know we have significant concentrations of population in the county, we know we have significant numbers of low-income households, but we have fewer rides per capita than similar cities,” Grovak said in 2002.
He said the number of public transit riders in Kokomo would double with fixed bus routes.
Trobaugh and Ives were both against starting a bus system, however.
“I’ve never really heard one of [my fellow mayors] say, ‘You ought to jump into a fixed-route transit system,’” Trobaugh said after the 2002 study was presented. “I’ve heard them say it really hits your rates hard to subsidize the system.”
For years, however, users have complained that relying on cabs is both expensive and unreliable.
A subsidized cab ride in Kokomo costs around $3 or $4, but has the advantage of being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Ives disputed that the 2002 consultants recommended scrapping First City Rider.
“They said we could go to a very small fixed-route bus system or upgrade our technology. It was an either/or,” Ives said. “The question asked, what about people who don’t work Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.? [The consultant] said they needed to get another job. That just wasn’t realistic.”
Ives said a 2008 study — which again recommended adding a bus service — also stopped short of calling for an end to First City Rider.
“The study we had in 2008; everybody wanted to keep First City Rider, but we might want to add a fixed bus system — if it didn’t add any more to the tax base,” Ives said.
In the long run, Ives said, the availability of the stimulus money gives Kokomo the ability to try something it otherwise wouldn’t have attempted.
“There’s no one answer that solves all problems, but my attitude is, let’s have something available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and then work on affordability,” he said.
• Scott Smith is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He may be reached at 765-454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com
