Around Des Moines

If you have an opinion about fares charged for using any of the transit services offered by the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) now is the time to share them. The DART Commission may vote on fare increases proposed by DART staff as soon as Tuesday, March 25, 2008. A public hearing will be held immediately prior to the March 25th meeting (5:00 p.m. at DART’s offices) and on Tuesday, March 18th (12:00 Noon at the Central Library). Services include regularly-scheduled daily bus routes, paratransit services, on-call and van pool services, weekday express routes, and numerous weekly or semi-weekly trips from outlying suburban communities.

In a letter to customers from General Manager Brad Miller, rising fuel costs are cited as the reason for requested fare increases. If the commission accepts the fare changes at its March meeting, the new fares could take effect on June 1, 2008. The letter was distributed on buses, sent via e-mail to customers requesting such communication, and posted on the DART website. Fares were last raised in January 2007, with rising fuel costs given as the reason then, as well.

In other news, this time from the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (DMAMPO), DART wants to amend the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to include a $32,000 Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program project in the current fiscal year to promote and to market the Unlimited Access Program. There will be a public hearing on this request on Tuesday, April 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the DMAMPO offices. I spoke with Brian Litchfield, DART’s chief development officer, via telephone about the Unlimited Access Program and other DART-related items.

The Unlimited Access Program offers unlimited rides to people affiliated with various organizations and businesses in exchange for a flat payment by the companies and groups. Drake University, which is easily accessible by the #3 and #5 bus lines, is the only university currently participating. A three-day survey in Fall 2007 indicated approximately six university-based riders a day. Litchfield said that in the first two months of Drake’s participation in the program, university-related ridership vastly exceeded expectations. All of the Unlimited Access contracts are for five years with clauses for annual cost adjustments.

Whether a particular transit service is funded by a grant or by riders factors into which fares are recommended to be raised. For instance, the downtown zone fare would rise to $0.50 but a free shuttle between Meredith and the Capitol would run approximately every 10 minutes from at least 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. There would also be a north/south route that would replace LINK park-and-ride service and would also be free. (The Indiana-based manufacturer of the trolley cars for the shuttle did not deliver the four diesel-powered vehicles on time. They are now expected to be delivered the first week of April. Start of the free shuttle service is thus expected to be between late April and June.) West Des Moines zone fares would rise to $0.75.

The $0.10 charge for transfers would be eliminated but so would the discount for buying single-trip tokens. For fares that will rise, the proposed increases range from 20% to 50%.

For people who commute to work via private automobile, the DMAMPO is reviewing the 2007 Travel Time Survey and the 2007 Vehicle Occupancy Survey. An interesting item in the In Touch newsletter from the DMAMPO is that rush-hour travel time on non-interstate roads is below the posted speed limit. However, on the interstate performance is sometimes higher than the posted speed limit. In other words, people are speeding to shorten their commute times.

M.R. Field writes about transit issues for AroundDesMoines.com.