Around Des Moines

Fare increases to take effect on June 1, 2008, were approved by the commission of the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority at its March 25th meeting. Only one change was made to the original fare proposal. Transfers will be good for 2 hours, up from the current 30 minutes, but only in one direction of travel. A request made at the March 18th hearing for discount passes to look like full-fare passes also was incorporated into the approved proposal. The vote to raise fares was unanimous with Commissioner Angela Connolly absent and Des Moines’ City Manager Rick Clark serving as an alternate for Commissioner Christine Hensley.

A major topic of concern and discussion was the increase of OTT passes from $17 to $21 per month. OTT stands for Opportunities Through Transit and is paid for through Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and DART. Low income riders can apply for OTT funds through several community organizations. Each of those organizations has a waiting list. Commission Gaye Johnson asked for additional information on the number of people on waiting lists. According to DART General Manager Brad Miller, the City of Des Moines contributes $20,000 to OTT through federally-funded CDBG and Polk County provides $13,000 from its CDBG allocation. DART contributes $54,000. The amounts provided by the city and by the county cannot be increased before January 2010. Miller said not raising the OTT pass to $21 would cost DART $50,000. How to ease the burden of $4 extra for qualifying riders was discussed and ultimately tabled in favor of moving along the vote for the full fare proposal.

After the meeting I confirmed with Chief Development Officer Brian Litchfield, since Miller had left for another meeting, that the $50,000 would be from lost revenue. Consider this in context of a presentation Miller made that showed OTT accounted for 6.6% of riders. Additionally, consider that Litchfield had responded to an e-mail from AroundDesMoines.com for additional information with the figure of $150,000 as the amount of new revenue to be raised by the fare increase. This would mean that the lowest income riders, accounting for 6.6% of all riders, will be paying one-third of the new fare dollars. However, regular monthly pass riders account for 22.5% of rides, or more than 3 times the number of OTT riders, with a monthly rate increase is $7 per pass. That should account for more than two-thirds of the expected revenue increase. According to minutes from the DART Commission’s March 4th meeting, additional revenue to help offset rising diesel fuel prices will come from parking garage revenues in the city of Des Moines.

A new $24 paratransit fare for anyone anytime is one of the interesting additions to DART fares. There are also five paratransit zones with various fare rates for qualifying riders. Miller explained that the $24 fare is more than taxi fare so the service option is unlikely to be used. However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is considering revamping reimbursement rates. Currently, DART is compensated at $16.44 per trip. To protect that revenue, DART needs to have the $24 published rate. As the meeting proceeded to other matters, several commissioners stressed that federal dollars for transportation are likely to be decreasing in the years ahead.

Apparently there is some disagreement within DART and on the DART Commission over the future direction of the transit authority. At the March 4th meeting, Commissioner Steve Van Oort asked for a comprehensive plan to cover the next 10 years. Van Oort is not convinced that the proposed transit mall, for which conceptual drawings and a $15 million tentative price tag were presented at the March 25th meeting, is in the best long-term interest of DART. Commission Chair Skip Conkling countered that the transit mall was necessary for all other development to happen, including a tram from the Capitol to downtown for which Allied/Nationwide has agreed to fund a feasibility study.

Trolleys for the new city- and state-funded shuttle from Meredith Corporation offices to the Capitol are expected to be delivered the first two weeks of April. According to the March 4th meeting minutes the new shuttle will be called the D-Line, a name selected by “a steering committee, consisting of DART and other downtown functionaries….” (For the record, I recommended the name Boondoggle. I can think of several choice D words, too.)

A presentation was also made at the March 25th meeting on responses to challenges posed by this past winter’s weather. DART staff recommended buying another sander and a bobcat. Currently there is only one sander, which was out of commission during part of the season due to damage, and no bobcat. On 74% of the days from December through February there was either snow or freezing rain.

M.R. Field hopes to cover future DART Commission meetings for AroundDesMoines.com.