MI: Midland weighs merging Dial-a-Ride, County Connection

Midland's Dial-a-Ride and Midland County's County Connection could be merged into one independent transportation authority, although more work needs to be done before local governing bodies can make an official decision.

Midland City Council and the Midland County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation on a transit study by RLS & Associates of Dayton, Ohio, exploring the possibility during a joint meeting Tuesday evening.

Both Dial-a-Ride and County Connection are demand response transportation services, meaning people need to call in advance to book a ride. Dial-a-Ride operates exclusively in the city of Midland, while County Connection operates across Midland County with a focus on areas outside the city.

The services will only be combined if doing so is determined to benefit county residents either by reducing costs or improving services, and if all current employees of both organizations are protected in the transition, City Public Works Director Karen Murphy told the councilmembers and commissioners.

The Michigan Department of Transportation would like to see counties with multiple transit agencies consider combining those agencies, and suggested that Midland County do a feasibility study to determine what collaboration could look like, according to Murphy.

The study explored having a shared dispatch service between two separate agencies and having one of the two agencies take over the other, but ultimately determined that creating a third-party transportation authority combining the two entities was the best approach, Laura Brown of RLS & Associates said.

"(You have) two really great transit systems that are so good," Brown said. "The idea behind the public transportation authority is that we bring these two together, and they can do so much together."

This path would mean constructing a new facility for the transit authority. In the short term, RLS & Associates recommended a transit facility study to work out the details of the facility, including its location and design.

Tuesday's meeting was purely informational, but City Manager Brad Kaye and County Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden said they would want each entity to vote on a resolution indicating whether they support continued work on the project.

The votes would likely take place in March and would help staff members determine if it is worth continuing work on the project, but a resolution in support would not mean that the city or county was committing to merging the transit entities.

"It doesn't lock you in," Kaye said. "It still is telling us to go do additional research and bring back the final details. At any point in time, you could say, 'This just isn't working.'"

Commission Chair Mark Bone said he supported the project overall but needed more information about the cost before he could get fully behind it.

"I know it's impossible to say what's the millage going to be, but I would like to at least know the cost associated with making the facility," Bone said.

Other concerns expressed at the meeting included worries that the need for transit could look different in the future as things like remote work become more common. But Mayor Maureen Donker, Ward 2, said uncertainty over the future shouldn't stop the city and county from proceeding with the plan.

"I think slow and steady wins the race, and we need to move forward on this slow and steady," Donker said. "But I don't think we should stop based on fear of change."

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