Trip Connect carried 4,224 rides but will end June 30 without a funding path

Callie Schneider, Johnson County's mobility coordinator, reported to the joint entities meeting on Jan. 12 that Trip Connect has provided 4,224 trips in its first year of operation and has become a regular, evening wraparound transit option for workers and others when fixed-route services are not running.

Schneider said the pilot launched Dec. 11 and runs evenings (5 p.m. to midnight) Sunday through Friday. The service uses two vehicles (one accessible), is booked by app, and aims to connect riders to employment, education and child care when regular transit is not available.

Performance and costs: Schneider presented month-by-month ridership that peaked around 616 trips in the top month and averaged just under 500 trips per month for most of the pilot. She reported FY25 cost-per-ride about $122 and that FY26 (through November) had dropped to about $69 per ride, with a hope to reach about $55 in December. Monthly invoices have run about $32,000; Schneider said the service costs roughly $1,300 per evening to operate.

Funding and timeline: Schneider and other speakers said the pilot was supported by a mix of one-time and discretionary funds (state DOT special project funding, county ARPA funds, National Center for Mobility Management support, participating cities and passenger contributions). Because those funding sources are not ongoing, Schneider said the service is scheduled to end on the fiscal-year sunset date of June 30; staff recommended ending the service on that date unless a sustainable funding or cost-sharing model is secured.

Community impact and questions: Presenters and committee members said Trip Connect has been used heavily for employment trips (self-reported by riders at about 76% of trips) and has helped some riders increase workplace attendance. Elected officials and other attendees asked about employer partnerships, capacity if the program continued and comparisons to fixed-route subsidies. Schneider said some employer outreach had occurred early in the pilot but there was not yet a robust cost-sharing arrangement; she noted that the service has outgrown county social-services capacity to run it and thanked Horizons (the operator) for flexibility.

What remains unresolved: exact ongoing operating cost estimates for a long-term service model, employer interest in cost-sharing, and whether cities or transit agencies can absorb or extend the program. Schneider said more granular residency data were not available from the app booking system and that staff could provide additional data on individual sign-ups on request.

Speakers and sourcing: statements and data in this article are drawn from Callie Schneider's Trip Connect presentation and subsequent Q&A at the Jan. 12 meeting.