Changes to Rock Region Metro bus routes instituted last November appear to have increased ridership, leaving officials with the Pulaski County transit agency hopeful that the changes halted a long-term decline in ridership.
A total of 1,193,675 passengers boarded Rock Region buses between Nov. 1, 2016, and April 30, according to agency data. The total marked a 4.2 percent increase over the 1,145,885 passengers who boarded between Nov. 1, 2015, and April 30, 2016.
"The system is moving in the direction of the demand of the customer," said Kathleen Lambert, senior planner for transit agency.
Rock Region Metro formally launched modifications to 13 of its 26 bus routes beginning Oct. 31, 2016.
The changes, which also included the removal of a 14th route, were the result of an annual service review focusing on what agency officials described as no-cost or low-cost improvements that they said would make the system more efficient.
The changes include new stops in high-traffic areas, the elimination of low-use stops and other changes designed to reduce delays.
Lambert said the route changes appear to be working, and predicted that the total number of passengers in 2017 will be about the same as last year.
A flat year would be a marked improvement over recent results for the agency. Ridership in 2016 -- 2,502,787 -- fell 2.76 percent compared with 2015 and was off 6.48 percent from 2014.
"I expect to see [ridership] to be about the same," Lambert said. "Where we've had severe underperforming routes, those routes have been eliminated or pieces of routes have been eliminated, and now we're holding our own on ridership."
That the system no longer is bleeding passengers "is extremely important because it means we're adding value to the community with the service we're providing," she said.
At a meeting of the agency's strategic planning committee, Lambert said the full effect of the route changes won't be felt for another year. It takes about 18 months for riders to adjust to the changes, she said.
Rock Region Metro's ridership decline is part of a national trend in fewer people riding the bus, which Jarod Varner, the agency's executive director, blames largely on low fuel prices.
AAA, which bills itself as North America's largest motoring and leisure travel organization, said the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded fuel nationally was $2.28 on Tuesday. In Arkansas, it was $2.05 a gallon.
Gas prices peaked in July 2008 at $4.11, the highest average price AAA said it ever recorded.
Meanwhile, Rock Region Metro is looking at tweaking a handful of other routes later this year, but the changes likely won't be implemented until the agency receives feedback from riders.
One is Route 3, which serves Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock and travels between the River Cities Travel Center in downtown Little Rock and the Wal-Mart store at Shackleford Crossings in west Little Rock.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's planned replacement of the South Hughes Street overpass on Interstate 630 as part of a project to widen the interstate in that area will require the overpass to be closed for six months or more.
The Route 3 bus uses the overpass. Under Federal Transit Administration rules, the route must be permanently changed anytime part of the existing route is closed for more than six months.
The agency also is looking to reduce frequency on Route 7 in the Dark Hollow area of North Little Rock, where it is underutilized, and would like to modify it to use it as a downtown circulator route while still offering service in Dark Hollow.
Rock Region Metro also looked at modifying routes to accommodate rider concerns about the lack of inbound and outbound service at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Riders must use to two different routes to go to and leave the campus.
But agency officials said they couldn't do it without hurting the ability to connect to other routes at the agency's midtown transfer station.
The options will be available for review and comment at three public meetings to be held next month:
• July 19, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Room 126 of the Laman Library at 2801 Orange St. in North Little Rock.
• July 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the main branch of the Central Arkansas Library System at 100 S. Rock St. in Little Rock.
• July 26, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the main branch of the Central Arkansas Library System.
Metro on 06/21/2017