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Transit staff report 2025 ridership trends; commissioners discuss shifting to smaller buses
Summary
Staff reported a 2% dip in fixed-route ridership and a roughly 25% increase in MetroLift ridership for 2025, citing a June service consolidation that cut 15% of service hours; commissioners discussed fleet options including 29-foot buses and the tradeoffs of MetroLift-style vehicles.
City transit staff presented 2025 ridership data Feb. 5, reporting a 2% year-over-year decrease in fixed-route ridership and about a 25% increase in MetroLift (paratransit) trips for the year. Staff said route consolidation in June cut about 15% of service hours and likely contributed to expected ridership decreases on fixed routes.
"We ended up finishing just about 25% increase for the year," staff said of MetroLift, noting a 61% increase over the past three years. For fixed-route service staff reported a 9% improvement in ridership efficiency (passengers per hour), from 7.9 to 8.6, and highlighted particularly strong performance on routes 4 and 5 and high absolute ridership on route 1.
Commissioners used the data to raise fleet questions. One commissioner suggested shifting to smaller 29-foot Gillig buses for lower-demand routes; staff said state contract pricing shows about a 1% capital cost decrease for the smaller Gillig option but cautioned that MetroLift-style buses, while cheaper, may not meet fleet lifecycle requirements for fixed-route service. "There's literally, it's less than 1% decrease in cost to go to that on the capital side," staff said of switching to a smaller Gillig bus. Staff also noted that smaller vehicles may not meet the required seven-year lifecycle on higher-use routes.
No vote was required for the ridership report; staff treated it as an informational item and commissioners asked for follow-up cost comparisons and data to inform future fleet decisions.
