Hill Country Transit District reports ridership gains after redesign, outlines regional restructure

Raymond Suarez, general manager of Hill Country Transit District, told Killeen City Council members on Feb. 4 that a system redesign and new management have produced measurable improvements in reliability, wait times and ridership across the district.

Suarez said Hendrickson Transportation Group, contracted to provide general management services, implemented service changes in September and built a technology platform that includes an app, real-time dashboards and automated trip brokering with Uber. “We implemented service September of this year in the 5 cities and we're making, great measured progress,” Suarez said. He added that average wait times on microtransit are now about 10 minutes and commuter frequency in Temple is “about 10 to 12 minutes,” down from as much as an hour previously.

The presentation outlined problems identified before the redesign — unreliable service, poor route design, limited hours and falling ridership — and the district’s response: a new operating model that consolidates dispatch, integrates off‑board trip partners, retrains staff and replaces aging vehicles. Suarez said the district has scanned and migrated records, centralized administration in Belton and consolidated demand‑response and fixed‑route services into a microtransit plus regional commuter model.

Council members asked how the system handles late‑night and weekend demand. Suarez said operations now run about 14 hours per day, through 8 p.m., and that the district has not extended service later because weekend and late‑night ridership drops sharply. He urged using system data to guide expansion. “Let's let the system tell us. Let's use actual empirical data from the system to tell us what we have available to us,” Suarez said.

On integrating transportation network companies, Suarez explained federal limits on using federal funds for TNC trips: FTA allows federal funds to pay for TNCs only when they are adjuncts to fixed‑route service and rides remain shared rather than single‑party. “If we're not running fixed route, we can't run Uber. Or we can, you just have to pay with it with local funds,” Suarez said.

Councilmember Nina Cobb raised passenger safety and whether Uber and Lyft trips expose riders to risks not present on district vehicles. Suarez said the district follows FTA safety rules, has a chief safety officer, conducts drug and alcohol testing and deploys cameras for oversight. He also said riders choose whether to accept a TNC trip and that the district will dispatch accessible vehicles for passengers needing mobility assistance.

Suarez described an organizational change underway with five counties moving to other regional providers and said FTA and TxDOT have supported that reconfiguration; he expects divestiture of those counties to be settled by the end of the month. He also said Fort Cavazos (Fort Hood) is funding commuter access and contributes roughly $500,000 a year to the system.

Suarez said the district plans quarterly briefings to member councils and will bring a marketing expert to help boost awareness starting in February. He also said the board is studying vanpools and a possible Transit Management Association to allow employers to invest directly in trips.

Council members thanked Suarez and several urged clearer public communication so more riders learn about the new service patterns. Suarez said the district will post dashboards and performance data publicly and return with more detailed reports.

No council action was taken; the item was a presentation and briefing.