ND: Microtransit could be way to close public transit gaps in Greater Grand Forks, new study finds

Microtransit services could be a way to close transit service gaps for Cities Area Transit, according to a new study nearing completion from the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The study, which is nearing completion, was started last fall to find information about the feasibility and potential implementation of microtransit services across the Grand Forks metropolitan area. One of the first places where microtransit could start would be in East Grand Forks, where large parts of the city lack regular service currently.

The East Grand Forks City Council received a presentation about the idea during its July 22 work session.

Community Development Director Nancy Ellis, who also oversees East Grand Forks transit, said it would help with the city's service levels, especially in the point area, which hasn't been served by any regular route since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"(After) losing Route 12 during COVID, we really are providing very minimal service," Ellis said during the meeting. "(Service) hasn't been great for people to use simply because it's hour-to-hour stops for a lot of the locations and it's just not practical for people to use it."

Microtransit combines aspects of service that CAT currently provides through its fixed-route and dial-a-ride services.

Like fixed-route transit, where vehicles follow set routes and have fixed timetables of services, microtransit has a specific zone and stops, but generally doesn't follow a predetermined timetable. Like dial-a-ride, microtransit works within an on-demand model, where riders request to be picked up. It generally uses smaller vehicles, but riders walk to a designated stop for pickup and aren't picked up directly at their homes.

East Grand Forks City Council member Dale Helms was skeptical of the move and the potential elimination of the limited fixed-route services.

"I don't understand quite fully how this can turn out to be cost-effective for anybody," Helms said on July 22. "Sounds to me like what you're looking to do is create a taxi service or Uber service."

Council member Ben Pokrzywinski countered, saying that the proposal could be a better fit for the city's needs.

"I think the goal here is to increase ridership of the service," Pokrzywinski said. "Right now, since there's only one pickup time every hour, nobody wants to ride and they're using other services."

Likely the earliest that the implementation would start would be in 2027, according to Ellis. Currently, Routes 4 and 6 are within the northern parts of East Grand Forks along DeMers Avenue and Central Avenue, serving places like Northland Community and Technical College, the Campbell Library and the East Grand Forks Hugo's. Both routes are among the lowest in ridership and revenue for CAT, and the study estimates that microtransit would increase ridership by around 5,000 trips, depending on how fixed-route services are adjusted.

"A lot of times it'll be the first and last mile," MPO Senior Planner Teri Kouba told the Herald. "Your bus routes will get into an area and they'll drop people off at a location. Now, (riders) have to have some way to get to their actual home; this will be able to get them to their home a lot closer."

The finalized study will be working its way through the MPO's committees with final approval likely sometime in August.

"The focus started off as 'is this even feasible for our area?'" Kouba said. "We've come up with an implementation plan. ... As we were telling the East Grand Forks City Council, it's a template."

Kouba said that even if there aren't funds available now, the work on creating a plan for any potential implementation has been done.

"We might not be able to have the funds until 2027 to start something, but we can change the dates ... and we're good to go," Kouba said.

For areas of Grand Forks that currently lack public transit services — like many parts of East Grand Forks, the southwest industrial park of Grand Forks, and far southern Grand Forks — microtransit could be a way to improve service levels.

"We've always struggled to figure out how to get people to the industrial park," MPO Executive Board member Al Grasser said during a July 16 board meeting. "A full bus route doesn't really work there. ... I think we'll really need to reevaluate that after you do the pilot in East Grand Forks and find out more refinement as to how many cars we need."

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