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Valley Regional Transit reports steady ridership after service restructure and outlines targeted route changes
Summary
VRT told council it maintained roughly even system ridership year-over-year despite a major service restructure, highlighted growth on several routes and proposed targeted outreach and limited service additions within current resources.
Valley Regional Transit (VRT) representative Elaine Clegg briefed the council on regional transit performance, service changes and near-term priorities.
Clegg said VRT is a political subdivision that covers public transportation in Ada and Canyon counties. She noted Idaho lacks dedicated state funding for transit and that VRT does not have local levy authority, which constrains service expansion. She said VRT supplements its revenue with fares and advertising and currently raises close to $2,000,000 from those sources.
Clegg summarized system performance for 2023'24 and said overall ridership across the system was about even (roughly 1% growth). She attributed some declines on specific corridors to detours and construction (State Street was down about 5% while remaining highly productive) and highlighted several gains: Fairview route up 13%, Vista up 3%, new West Boise service up about 15% and strong productivity on some county routes.
Clegg described a large service restructure and rebrand that began in June and said several routes saw notable post-change gains. She also described "Beyond Access," a new demand-response service consolidating senior-center and specialized-disability trips across counties; VRT reported 31% of those rides started or ended in Boise.
Clegg listed several near-term, within-resources actions VRT plans or is seeking to implement: add an additional trip to Route 10 (targeted for October), reduce a fare to $5.45 for a specified service, targeted outreach and travel training for Route 20 to increase awareness, continued Main Street Station electrification (with some staging on-street during early construction), a recent purchase of system bus-stop benches (expected to increase advertising revenue), bench-seat pilots and integration of micro-mobility with the VRT app.
Council members asked for clarifications about ridership measures and funding. In response to a question about the Boise percentages listed in VRT materials, Steven Hunt (VRT staff) said the percentage indicates the share of boardings that occurred within the City of Boise, not the percent of funding. When asked for a per-ride local cost to the City of Boise, presenters said they would provide a city-specific cost-per-boarding figure later.
Clegg said VRT is pursuing grant opportunities to complete corridor design and stop upgrades and is seeking partnerships with employers and health-care institutions to expand targeted services. She asked to work with the council and city staff during the 2026 budget process on one-time or recurring investments and to explore options such as expanded 15-minute service windows on high-frequency routes and service pattern adjustments on routes such as the 17 to restore coverage to areas like Harris Ranch.
