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Office of Transportation highlights 1,000,000-ridership milestone, HOKO pilot and fleet replacement plans
Summary
Administrator F. Dickerson reported progress on transit ridership returning to pre-pandemic levels, bus replacement orders, bus stop and bike-ped improvements, and an app-based HOKO Rapid Ride pilot that has generated early positive user ratings.
Administrator F. Dickerson and deputy David Cookson told the council the Office of Transportation anticipates delivering more than 1,000,000 annual trips (fixed route and paratransit combined) by the end of FY25—returning ridership to pre-pandemic levels. The department credited a mix of service changes, operator hiring and new software (Spare) for improved paratransit productivity and on-time performance.
Dickerson outlined accomplishments including nine miles of new bike lanes, 55 upgraded bus stops, the launch of US-1 microtransit and ongoing work on Flash infrastructure. The HOKO Rapid Ride app-based pilot (Route 1 east Columbia area) launched in March and, by the presentation, had nearly 650 accounts and roughly 600 completed rides with over 99% of rated trips receiving a five-star score. The office requested $148,000 to support HOKO operations and monitoring.
On vehicles, the department reported orders for 11 transit vehicles for the current year; fleet replacement is an ongoing plan, but delivery timelines remain extended (a presenter estimated roughly 15 months for some heavy vehicles) and procurement may be affected by supply-chain and tariff risks.
Ending: Staff agreed to provide route- and validation-based student ridership data requested by council members and to share a timeline for delivery of ordered vehicles; administrators noted continued hiring and retention work for operators and mechanics to sustain service levels.
