Auburn Transit update: On-Demand service continues to grow

What bore out of meeting the needs of the community during COVID has blossomed into a successful on-demand ridership program for the City of Auburn. Public Works Manager Mengil Deane gave an overview of the city's transit program at the Auburn City Council meeting earlier this week, highlighting the growth in ridership the city's newer on-demand service has provided. "On-demand transit has been really really instrumental to us," Deane said. Deane shared that in 2017, Auburn's ridership reached its peak, which was similar to transit statistics region-wide. After fiscal year 2018-2019, the city started to see a decline in their transit program – which then was a two-route bus system. "It was underperforming and needed change," Deane said. Right before COVID hit in 2020, the city rolled out a three-route bus system and eventually turned to on-demand transportation during the decline in ridership due to COVID. Ridership isn't quite back to pre-pandemic levels, but Deane boasted that the number of customers has already surpassed last year's numbers – with three months left to go in the fiscal year. Currently, Auburn Transit offers three services – the Auburn Loop, Auburn On-Demand, and the Confluence Route through Auburn On-Demand. The Auburn Loop is a fixed route service that will pick up riders at designated bus stops at designated times throughout the day between the hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The Auburn Loop includes 30 stops around the City and surrounding Placer County on an hourly basis. The department is seeing a shift in how the public utilizes these services, Deane said. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of Auburn On-Demand riders and a decrease in the number of Auburn Loop riders. Staff believes the ease and convivence of Auburn On-Demand is the driving force behind this shift of preferred service. Deane said that the on-demand program continues to grow as each quarter passes. Each quarter has seen more than 6,500 riders, and Deane estimates the city provides rides for approximately 90 calls a day. Since the on-demand program began approximately 2 and a half years ago, the city has completed 24,142 rides. "Auburn transit has reached more customers and desired locations than ever before," Deane said. "What we noticed is it is being utilized a lot more by folks going to work in the morning, sending their kids to school and the biggest number comes from recreational use on Friday and Saturday nights going out to our business districts." The on-demand service is also bringing in more revenue to the city's transit program too, which can go back to enhancing the city's fleet – which is 60 percent all-electric, Deane said. "The biggest takeaway from this is obviously the on demand program has grown tremendously and has out-paced what we thought it could do and it is certainly going a lot better than our traditional fixed deviated service," Deane said. The city recently purchased two fully-grant-funded Teslas to add to its on-demand transit service. Looking ahead, Deane said he is working to create a monthly prepaid pass. He estimated it would be approximately $100 and serve 30 rides. "I'm excited about getting a student pass," said Councilwoman Rachel Radell-Harris. "You told me you thought they'd be ready before the school year. We want to make sure we communicate that to the school districts. I think there are a lot of school families who would buy one." Deane said he would bring back the prepaid pass program at a future city council meeting.