Wind River Transportation Authority reports record late‑night ridership, plans Riverton Senior Center transfer

Warner, WRTA representative, updated the Fremont County Commission on Wind River Transportation Authority operations on issues ranging from ridership to a pending service integration and regulatory reviews.

Warner said August set a record for late‑night weekend trips provided under the Safe Ride program and that overall system ridership trends are “very promising,” though he noted final monthly totals were pending one week of tallying. “We’re continuing to see record setting trends,” Warner said.

The update included WRTA staff success at the state Y Trans conference: WRTA won four of seven statewide awards, placed first and third in the bus rodeo, and produced the statewide dispatcher‑of‑the‑year and trainer‑of‑the‑year winners. Warner said the bus‑rodeo first‑place operator, Gerald Lee, will represent the authority at the national CTAA bus rodeo in Omaha in 2026.

Warner described a planned operational integration with the Riverton Senior Center that WRTA and the Wyoming Department of Transportation (YDOT) expect to start in October, at the start of the new federal fiscal year. Under the plan, WRTA will assume day‑to‑day operations while the senior center will retain some Medicaid billing responsibilities and one staff member during a transitional period. Warner said a memorandum of understanding will govern shared staffing during the first 12 months while vehicle assets transfer into the WRTA fleet later in the month.

On maintenance funding, Warner said Project Independence—identified in the meeting as a Community Services Program Development (CSPD)‑funded program—helped cover shortfalls for Riverton Senior Center vehicle maintenance so those vehicles could be maintained pending asset transfer. “It gets really delicate when we were mixing or trying to work with YDOT to use our maintenance funds to maintain their assets,” Warner said, describing the arrangement with Project Independence as a compromise to ensure vehicles meet transit asset management requirements.

Warner said WRTA is deploying new ridership software with a targeted mid‑September go‑live that will provide more detailed reporting of peak times and per‑route boarding counts. He also said WRTA is assessing its $2 fixed‑route fare but will wait for a CTAA‑led cost study before making changes.

WRTA will host YDOT and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) staff for a triennial compliance review scheduled for the Ninth and 10th of next month; Warner described the review as an in‑depth, multi‑day process and said WRTA last received a triennial review in February 2018.

Why it matters: WRTA provides public transportation that affects mobility for seniors, airport travelers and late‑night riders in Fremont County. The Riverton Senior Center integration will shift operational responsibility, change where maintenance funds are applied and requires coordination on Medicaid billing and staff sharing. The CTAA study and the upcoming FTA/YDOT review could affect fares, operations and compliance requirements.

Discussion and next steps: Commissioners praised WRTA staff for training and operational results. Warner said WRTA will continue to monitor ridership data after the software go‑live and will work with CTAA on fare‑and‑cost analysis. No formal commission action was required at the update.