HCOG holds annual 'unmet transit needs' hearing in Trinidad; public asks for better airport link

Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCOG) conducted its annual unmet transit needs hearing during the Oct. 14 Trinidad City Council meeting, inviting public comments on gaps in county transit service and logging suggestions for future planning.

HCOG associate regional planner Steve Luther explained the process: the citizen comments are reviewed under adopted criteria and help determine whether identified needs are “reasonable to meet” for the purposes of allocating Local Transportation Funds. Luther said even requests that are not found “reasonable to meet” are documented for future planning when funding becomes available.

Resident Carol Monet said she conducted a “week without driving” and found local bus service insufficient for many trips. She told the council Trinidad has only a few northbound and southbound buses daily and described poor connections with the regional airport, where she said there is no nearby parking and little incentive for passengers to use the bus. “If people could take the bus from the airport into Arcata, Eureka, that would alleviate a lot of congestion,” she said.

Richard Johnson (Humboldt Transit Authority) responded that HTA plans a micro‑transit pilot to link Trinidad with the airport to improve scheduling and last‑mile connections. He said a pilot is expected as part of a roadmap within about six months to test on‑demand pickups to the airport and back.

The council and HCOG representatives encouraged residents to attend HTA and HCOG meetings (Humboldt Transit Authority meets the first Tuesday of the month at 9 a.m. via Zoom) and to submit comments to the unmet transit needs process. HCOG will review the recorded comments and apply adopted criteria to determine whether proposals are “reasonable to meet” for funding decisions.