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Commission highlights 1.8M-mile reduction from FareFree transit and backs plan to seek four Gillig buses
Summary
Iowa City staff reported the first-year FareFree transit program reduced vehicle miles traveled by about 1.8 million, noted uneven ridership increases across routes, outlined chaser-bus responses to crowding, and said city council will consider purchasing four Gillig buses to replace unreliable Proterra vehicles.
City staff reported to the Iowa City Climate Commission that the first year of the FareFree transit program coincided with an estimated reduction of about 1,800,000 vehicle miles traveled within city limits, and discussed steps to adapt service and fleet after lessons from earlier electric bus procurement.
During an old-business review of transportation priorities, staff said fare-free service has increased ridership but the gains have been uneven across routes. "We have not seen uniform increases," a staff member said, noting Oak Crest and Town Crest have particularly high ridership. To address crowding, staff described a "chaser bus" strategy that runs two buses in leapfrog fashion on busy corridors so one bus can relieve the other during peak times.
Staff tied other recent actions to the transit push: route restructuring in August that increased frequency on some lines (Court Street now runs on a 20-minute headway) and outreach to employers timed around university parking-permit cycles to promote modal shifts. Staff reported outreach events at Climate Fest and cited 47 attendees for one of the active-transportation promotions.
On fleet procurement, staff said a forthcoming city-council item will request approval to acquire four Gillig buses to expand and electrify the fleet. The staff presentation stressed fleet commonality as a driver of the choice: "every other bus in the city fleet is made by Gillig," staff said, which supports parts interchangeability and maintenance familiarity. The staff briefing contrasted Gillig's long experience building buses with previous problems the city experienced with Proterra buses, where manufacturer-specific parts and Proterra's later bankruptcy impaired maintenance.
Commissioner Marie asked whether Proterra issues were isolated; staff confirmed other municipalities also reported problems, citing an example of a Florida city with dozens of nonfunctioning Proterra buses.
Staff also noted work under way on a parking study to address lost parking revenue as a result of fare-free transit and discussed efforts to fund continued transit service and bus-shelter rollouts. The city is planning a new transit facility design phase now with operation expected around 2027.
No formal action was taken; staff said the Gillig procurement would be presented to city council for consideration.
