Columbia council hears multi‑tier transit plan that would expand service but relies on new funding and drivers

Columbia City Council heard a presentation on a multi‑tiered transit plan that lays out steps from the system’s current service toward a long‑term “tier 4” vision with much higher frequency and extended hours. The consultant leading the study said the community’s top priorities were more frequent buses and expanded evening and weekend service. “We need to listen to our people that use our service,” the consultant told the council during the presentation.

The plan describes four service tiers. The consultant and staff said the baseline used for comparison is roughly 20,000 annual revenue vehicle hours. Tier 1 would restore pre‑combination route patterns and add evening service, increasing annual hours by roughly 4,000. Tier 2 would introduce daytime 30‑minute frequencies on core routes and hourly Saturday service and includes an alternative purple route to serve employment corridors; the consultant said tier 2 represents a much larger jump in vehicle hours. Tier 3 adds Sunday service and longer late‑night spans and approaches roughly 60,000 annual revenue vehicle hours. The “tier 4” vision calls for 15‑minute peak service, microtransit zones and seven‑day service across much of the network; the presentation estimated more than 100,000 annual revenue vehicle hours at that level.

The consultant gave a range of operating‑cost estimates tied to those tiers. Operations‑only estimates shown in the presentation were roughly…