Dunn County Transit reports January ridership gains, approves electric-bus carryforward to FY2025

Dunn County Transit commissioners on Feb. 12 heard staff report ridership increases in January after staffing recovered and approved a resolution moving an electric-bus budget line from FY2024 into FY2025.

Austin, transit staff, said systemwide ridership showed a notable rebound in January. "Red Cedar ridership took a big uptick in January... up 35% versus December, and then on daily ridership, up 23% versus December," Austin said. He also reported that some routes saw higher riders per service day even when the number of service days in January was lower than in December.

The uptick came alongside continuing changes in route-level trends: community-route ridership dropped compared with a prior January (from 1,555 to 1,394, a 12% decline), while the ‘‘stealth’’ route showed fewer total rides primarily because it operated fewer service days; rides per day on that route were higher than in December. Austin cautioned that calendar effects — fewer service days in January this year — partly explained comparisons with prior months.

Staff also discussed small operational items that could affect passenger experience and visibility: adding decade-old physical bus-stop signs at several stops (including Galloway Apartments and locations near Oak Container and Tainter and Elm) and a routine cleaning schedule (buses washed Tuesday and Thursday and as needed). Advertising was presented as a revenue opportunity: Austin said the county had allocated prime ad space on bus rears to ADRC and is developing lower-cost interior ad panels and local-sell options to give small rural organizations affordable promotion on buses.

On the budget item, the commission considered "the Dunn County Transit FY2024 carry forward and the FY2025 budget adjustments." A motion to approve the FY2024 carryforward and the FY2025 budget adjustments was made and seconded; the motion passed after a voice vote. Austin explained the change was maintenance of the electric-bus budget line with a net-zero impact on total county appropriations and said the procurement timeline remained uncertain: "As of now, the timeline is the end of 2025, but I'm thinking 2026," he said, and noted the line may need to be moved again.

The staff report included interim financial details: WisDOT approved a quarter-4 payment of roughly $67,000 the prior week, and staff said a few thousand dollars of accounts receivable remained outstanding. Austin said taking on some one-time projects (seal coating the blacktop driveway, new GPS equipment, and repairs to bring one bus back into service) was charged to operating costs while a second bus not yet put into service remained capital-eligible.

The commission set its next meeting for March 12 at the same time and place.

Ending: The meeting adjourned after routine business and public comment with no further formal actions recorded.