With expected plummet in ridership, DeKalb County public transit continues through pandemic

DeKALB – At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcus Cox, like most people, thought the shutdown and its aftermath would be temporary.

When the shutdowns continued through March, however, Cox, transit manager for the city of DeKalb, said the decision was made to temporarily reduce the city’s public transit operations. Since that time, reduction in services remains, although ridership across the county has seen a drastic downturn for obvious reasons, Cox said, including more working from home and less going out. Fares are now free for all public buses except the line that goes to the Elburn Metra train station, and social distancing guidelines are a part of the everyday commute now.

The transition hasn’t been without its headaches, however. Transdev Services Inc., the city’s fixed route service provider, has had to amend its contract with the city this year due, in part, to a reduction in Huskie Line operators, which Cox said are often Northern Illinois University students.

“The fixed route side that we operate ebbs and flow with NIU’s schedule, because part of our service is to provide transportation to students,” Cox said. “Obviously during the spring and fall semester, we have more need for more routes, and less need in summer and winter for campus routes. So once NIU made the decision [to shut down in March], we reduced service.”

Ridership plummets

Just before the shutdowns, February 2020 ridership numbers climbed to 133,750, more riders than any month through July 2019, according to city documents. In March, that number fell to 42,444 riders, compared with 105,178 in March 2019. In April, that number fell sharply again to 14,000 riders, where it stayed for May, and rose to 17,500 in June and July.

Service reduction at the start of the pandemic meant buses were operating at about 120 hours a day instead of the usual 250, Cox said. The consolidated countywide public transit system sees an average of 5,000 riders a day Monday through Friday during a normal year.

“In a normal situation, there would be 20 on the road if we were in service running in February 2020,” Cox said. “But today, to accommodate, we have 17 out there. It’s about a 19% reduction in total service.”

On Aug. 10, the DeKalb City Council approved another temporary service reduction, effective Aug. 25 through Nov. 1, since the Huskie Line operators were unable to meet the contracted summer service schedule as a result of hiring challenges, according to city documents. The city will spend that time gathering ridership data to determine if opening back up to a fully operational fixed route system is feasible Nov. 2, documents show.

Cox said the consolidated system as a whole hasn’t seen a significant amount of bus drivers unwilling to work in COVID-19 conditions, although some understandably decided to forgo the work environment. Personal protective equipment, along with hand sanitizer, masks and cleaning solution was provided to each driver. Cox said plastic barriers are being installed next week (they’re already in VAC buses) to act as an extra shield between the drivers and the riders, and passengers must sit on every other seat inside, and enter and exit from the rear bus door only, unless they require the ramp.

“A portion of the Transdev drivers are students, so there’s always this anticipation that end of semester or summer, everyone that’s hired at Transdev, a seasonal position, there’s going to be layoffs.” Cox said. “There were also a handful of people who said ‘I’d prefer not to work in that situation.’”

Many Transdev drivers need to obtain their CDL license in order to operate a bus, which meant training new drivers was difficult since the Secretary of State’s facilities were closed mid-March through June 1.

The reduced schedule still covers all existing bus stops and high-use routes, such as Routes 17 and 18 that go along the shopping areas on Sycamore Road and to NIU campus.

Cox said another challenge was making sure public transit – an essential service, and with free fares during the pandemic – remained operational but not enough so to entice riders to use it in excess during a pandemic meant to decease the amount of public social interaction.

“It really took us some time to find out what this best middle point was going to be between what we needed to have for service, what was acceptable to run, without making people feel like they need to be out there,” he said. “We also made the routes free, and we found, as we were going to run those routes at basic, very minimal levels of service, if you’re going to work, you probably have to go to work.”

Ridership is limited to 10-12 riders per bus. Maps and route times are available online or via a mobile app called ETA spot.

Funding

According to city documents, after the 2000 Census, the DeKalb-Sycamore area was designated an urban center, which meant the region became eligible for grants from the Federal Transit Administration, and the Downstate Operating Assistance Program through the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Using those funds, the city contracts with the Voluntary Action Center and Transdev Services Inc. According to the fiscal 2020 budget, funds are outlined as follows: $5.9 million from DOAP grant, $2.1 million from NIU, $1.6 million from the FTA grant, $60,000 in fares from the Huskie Line, and $50,000 from VAC.

Cox said that means, especially given the free fares, the city isn’t losing much revenue.

“At this point last year, we had about $40,000 give or take a couple thousand in fares that we had generated,” he said. “And now in this time and, really the majority of the number I’m going to give you came from January and February, we’re at just below $15,000 in fares.”

He said fares make up less than 1% of the system’s revenue. What’s at risk now, he said, is a potential loss of federal funds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act, however, provided $3.4 million in funding in April through the FTA.

For riders

For passengers on a public bus these days, social distancing and mask-wearing are a must, Cox said, although he emphasized he doesn’t expect bus drivers to put themselves on the line in order to enforce an unruly rider.

“It’s hard because we don’t expect the bus driver to be the mask police,” Cox said. “But we remind people, there are signs on the bus. I can count maybe two, three times where it got to a point of being belligerent or the police had to be involved. I think most people are doing a good job and I obviously commend the drivers and staff.”

Buses are cleaned once in the morning and once in the evening.

He said with the return of NIU students to campus, the transit system operators are making sure to re-communicate the importance of public health regulations while riding.

“The number one thing I’ve heard from passengers is that passengers tend to wear [masks] when they get on and put the face mask down once they’re on board,” he said. “While I understand that, we want to make sure everyone is being safe and making sure they’re wearing masks.”