Hill Country Transit District tells Belton council microtransit rollout is boosting ridership and service reliability

Raymond Suarez, general manager of the Hill Country Transit District, told the Belton City Council on Feb. 11 that the district has replaced much of its underperforming fixed‑route service with a microtransit and regional connector design and is already seeing ridership and performance gains.

Suarez said the system now pairs shared vehicles with riders through an enterprise dispatch and rider app and that the district is using trip brokering with transportation‑network companies as an adjunct when transit vehicles cannot reach riders quickly. “If we do all of those things, you wind up with a high quality system that hopefully shows value back to your community,” Suarez said.

Why this matters: Council members and staff said improved transit access supports job access, medical appointments and economic activity across the region. Suarez told the council that the redesign addresses long travel times and one‑direction hourly frequencies that had discouraged use of the previous fixed routes.

What Suarez presented: He summarized a multi‑year effort that began with a 2021 consultant review and a board strategic visioning process in 2023. The district consolidated operations, replaced its fleet, moved back‑office systems to an enterprise cloud platform and introduced a shared‑ride microtransit app and regional commuter connector. Suarez said the commuter connector runs on 30‑minute frequency between hubs and microtransit waits are now often 15 minutes or less.

Performance and scale: Suarez reported that the district’s branded on‑demand service (referred to in the presentation as Fort Cab) operated 11 vehicles in its first year and recorded about 230,000 rides, well above an initial success target of 30,000 rides. He said on‑time performance climbed into the mid‑90s percentile after the restructure and that cancellations and unmet trip requests are declining.

Technology and trip brokering: The district is using a high‑visibility dashboard and heat maps for planning and real‑time operations. Suarez said about 30% of trips are being served via Uber or other TNCs as an adjunct when needed; the system automatically offers a TNC trip if a transit vehicle cannot reach a rider within a set window. Suarez said the rider copay for those TNC legs is $2 for qualifying users and that the district’s average cost per trip is about $9.

Regional governance and transfer of service: Suarez described a planned jurisdictional reorganization set for Feb. 28 that moves five counties from the current district to neighboring rural transit districts. He said those transfers required negotiated asset title transfers and coordination with TxDOT and the FTA.

Next steps: Suarez said the district will return to the council at least quarterly with performance reports, and that March 1 will bring the first full connections from rural partners into the new regional network. Councilmembers who serve on the HOP board thanked staff for the work and said the changes are already improving access to employment and medical care.

Ending: Suarez closed by describing plans for continued marketing, community engagement and a social‑service coordination table to align trips with human‑services needs.