Saturday, April 13, 2013

Rockford Mass Transit Buses: Will ridership on the Boone County Route justify local costs?

Currently there is 10 hour per day, weekday service across the City of Belvidere and to the transfer station on Lyford Road in Rockford.  That connection provides (with a transfer) free service across Rockford.

This service is currently subsidized by federal and state grants which will lapse in 2014/2015.  Should the service continue?  Could City of Belvidere or other Boone County governments fund this enterprise when the grants end.

A presentation of the facts and a question and answer session was held last Wednesday’s City-County Subcommittee meeting.  The slides presented are available at:   http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/files/96NMP758D922/$file/Belvidere%20fixed%20route%20bus%20service.pdf

Here is a chart of ridership since the service began.  The red bars are the current year; blue bars the previous year.

Rockford Mass Transit

Using the current monthly ridership {approximately 1200} dividing that by number of week days in average month {21.4} 56 people ride the bus on an average day and only 6 people on average ride any portion of the 10 scheduled daily trips.

 

Here is the fixed route about which the numbers concern. For a better route map go to:  http://www.belvideretownship.org/RMTD%20Belvidere%20Bus%20Route.pdf

Rockford Mass Transit.png 2 of 2

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