On Feb. 26, Metro’s Board of Directors approved the largest changes to the bus network in several decades, altering 25 of Metro’s existing 33 bus lines. The restructuring is a result of two years of planning and was shaped by over 4,000 customer surveys, 12 public meetings, a public hearing and more than 500 public comments.
Planning included a partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency to conduct the Heartland Connections – Regional Transit Vision in 2013. Using passenger data collected from an October 2012 on-board survey, a Comprehensive Operational Analysis was developed in order to better serve Metro customers within existing budget resources. Answering the call from customers for more frequent, later night and additional weekend service, nine of Metro’s main lines will receive extended hours past midnight, and the two busiest lines will have buses at 15 minute intervals for the majority of the day, with 30 minute intervals during evening and weekend hours.
Metro Executive Director Curt Simon stated, “We committed from the beginning to make improvements without raising taxes or customer fares, which has required some give-and-take.” He said staff has worked with several neighborhood groups and impacted businesses to minimize effects in areas of reduced or discontinued service. Simon said, the larger vision is to streamline service to make routes more direct, and make it easier to navigate for first-time riders and looks forward to improving service where it is needed most, provides better job access for night shift workers, and faster travel times for most of Metro’s current riders.
Metro will launch a public education campaign to assist customers learn the new system.
