Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Greg Gates and Steve Davis - Reagan Mass Transit District

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Talk Line: Greg Gates and Steve Davis - Reagan Mass Transit District · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: It's January, the twenty ninth. Year is twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: and it's time for another informational edition of talk Line
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  Speaker 1: here at AM fourteen sixty and FM ninety five one WIXM.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, I'm Steve Marco. It is time to talk
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  Speaker 1: to representatives from the Reagan Mass Transit District. Do we
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  Speaker 1: do this monthly and we get word out about all
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  Speaker 1: of the happenings within your Reagan Mass Transit District, which
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  Speaker 1: encopasses pretty predominantly pretty much Lee and Ogle County. But
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  Speaker 1: we are expanding and we are again in the first
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  Speaker 1: ignited report of twenty twenty five today with our good
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  Speaker 1: friends from Reagan Mass Transit. Like to welcome aboard our
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  Speaker 1: executive director Greg Gates and associate director Steve Davis.
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  Speaker 2: Gentlemen, Happy new year to you.
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  Speaker 3: As well, sir.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, Thank you, and it's nice to
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  Speaker 1: see you guys. Back with us for another series of report.
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  Speaker 1: Here we go, guys, another series of reports with Reagan
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  Speaker 1: Mass Transit District, and we appreciate Greg and Steve taking
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  Speaker 1: time out of their busy days to join us at
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  Speaker 1: the radio station here at WIXM.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to trip back to twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: Four to start our broadcast today and talk about maybe
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  Speaker 1: it like a review, maybe a preview in this report
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  Speaker 1: that we have for Reagan Mass Transit today, because you
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  Speaker 1: guys wanted to kind of center stage ridership information and
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  Speaker 1: figures that you kind of tabulated during last year.
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  Speaker 2: Where do we start with this?
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  Speaker 3: So we had kind of a banner year last year.
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  Speaker 3: We did seven two hundred more rides than we did
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  Speaker 3: the year before, which can context, it's about two and
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  Speaker 3: a half more months if you're talking about what we
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  Speaker 3: did per month. That's so pretty significant the amount of
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  Speaker 3: extra rides that were taking you know, coming off of COVID,
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  Speaker 3: everything was rebuilding. So for twenty twenty three they did
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  Speaker 3: a twenty nine percent jump over twenty two, where we
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  Speaker 3: just did another twenty three percent jump over twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 3: So we are really building, We're really expanding the number
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  Speaker 3: of rides we're taken. We took on a few more
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  Speaker 3: drivers to still spanned the amount of services we can
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  Speaker 3: do and we're still full up. So the rider ship's
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  Speaker 3: out there. It's a necessary need for this community, and
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  Speaker 3: I couldn't be happier at the amount of rides that
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  Speaker 3: we're given so far, and the fact that we're doing
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  Speaker 3: it a little more efficiently. So not only are we
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  Speaker 3: doing more rides, we call it revenue miles. When people
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  Speaker 3: are on the bus, our revenue miles are way up
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  Speaker 3: compared to the time we have deadhead rides. So we're
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  Speaker 3: doing it more efficiently. We're doing more rides, and we're
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  Speaker 3: continuing to expand we're already up.
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  Speaker 1: That's terrific.
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  Speaker 3: Five hundred more rides over nice to anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: And I kind of believe, you know, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: start putting COVID in the review, right, I mean, we really,
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  Speaker 1: we really should be starting to do that, right Eve.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned, you know, front and I understand
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  Speaker 1: you know where we're still coming off, but it should
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  Speaker 1: be you know, probably you know, at the end of
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  Speaker 1: its term, don't you think, Greg.
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  Speaker 4: In terms of how the nation has rebounded, at least
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  Speaker 4: when you look at transportation, there's some really good data
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  Speaker 4: out there for urban and what I would say is
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  Speaker 4: metro as well as rural areas as well as the
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  Speaker 4: inner city bus Like the Greyhounds of the world, in
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  Speaker 4: terms of the rebound thematically, rural areas actually rebounded more
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  Speaker 4: quickly than other areas, including some of the inner city
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  Speaker 4: bus and the urban models. I guess that's a little
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  Speaker 4: surprising from my point of view. I guess I thought
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  Speaker 4: maybe urban would be a little more quickly people have
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  Speaker 4: to get around the city, and a little more conservative
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  Speaker 4: in the rural areas. But the data is shown the
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  Speaker 4: exact opposite. And obviously we're talking four now going on
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  Speaker 4: five years in the rearview mirror almost in terms of
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  Speaker 4: getting away from that COVID period. Obviously, we're still taking
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  Speaker 4: some of the precautions associated with any type of illness,
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  Speaker 4: especially this time of year, and stressing that people if
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  Speaker 4: they want to, they're more than willing to or more
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  Speaker 4: than able to wear masks if they would like to
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  Speaker 4: on some of our buses. But yeah, it's very heartening
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  Speaker 4: to see that people are picking up. We're getting far
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  Speaker 4: more requests for even rides via our website, I would say.
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  Speaker 4: And Steve has the good fortune of actually, you know,
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  Speaker 4: taking people and putting them on a waiting list even
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  Speaker 4: though we're filled to capacity on specific days, and then
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  Speaker 4: actually working them in if people call off. I think
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  Speaker 4: that's something that's become a little more of a best practice,
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  Speaker 4: if you will, with our ridership is Yeah, people are
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  Speaker 4: still people, and they will make some changes in their
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  Speaker 4: daily schedules, even canceling rides with us, and that allows
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  Speaker 4: in some cases others to take advantage of the opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's great, obviously wonderful news
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  Speaker 1: that Steve shares with us is one from the Reagan
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  Speaker 1: mass Transit district. And since we are putting that in
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  Speaker 1: the rear view, what do you suppose, I mean, why
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  Speaker 1: are we seeing this uptick? I mean, is there a
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  Speaker 1: reason why or is it just the popularity of you know,
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  Speaker 1: a master or is it you know, starting to take hold.
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  Speaker 2: Better here in our region with public transportation.
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  Speaker 4: There's probably multi factors. Steve probably has a better view
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  Speaker 4: from the front line. I would say that people are
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  Speaker 4: becoming more aware of the service option and they're finding
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  Speaker 4: it potentially a more attractive piece. I think if you
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  Speaker 4: look at some of the data that we put together
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  Speaker 4: for the last calendar year, a sizable chunk of those
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  Speaker 4: rides are individuals who are wanting transit to the workforce
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  Speaker 4: or doctor's appointments, both of those as well as schools.
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  Speaker 4: There's a triad there that seems to be pretty steady
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  Speaker 4: with ridership, but there's a significant number of individuals going
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  Speaker 4: the route of taking the the service to work.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's our biggest explosion is the employment. Forty
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  Speaker 3: seven percent of our rides or to get people to work, okay, okay,
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  Speaker 3: and that spreads, Hey, how you're getting to work with
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  Speaker 3: that bus they get you here? How that work? So
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  Speaker 3: that that was the biggest in my opinion, boom over
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  Speaker 3: this last year is we're up to forty seven percent
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  Speaker 3: of all the rides we give, of the thirty two
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  Speaker 3: thousand rides we did, we're for employment.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's the big uptick. I think that's why
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  Speaker 3: you're seeing more and more rides. They just the expansion
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  Speaker 3: of people, Hey maybe I don't have to ride to work.
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  Speaker 1: I got somebody else taken absolutely, yeah, no problem there,
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  Speaker 1: you know exactly exactly.
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  Speaker 2: You know, all you have to do is make the call,
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  Speaker 2: make the appointment.
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  Speaker 1: You know, pick up is there and on a routine basis,
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  Speaker 1: you can do this right.
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  Speaker 3: Correct, we do. We do subscription routes, so we pick
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  Speaker 3: you up every day, bring home every day. You just
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  Speaker 3: set it up once and you're done.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's also probably on the employer side them
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  Speaker 4: willing to pay for getting people to work is a
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  Speaker 4: benefit that I think is becoming more attractive in the workforce.
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  Speaker 4: And obviously it's sort of simple stupid, if you will.
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  Speaker 4: If you're assisting your workers in getting to the front
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  Speaker 4: door of your workplace and it's at a nominal cost,
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  Speaker 4: it just sort of makes sense that you're going to
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  Speaker 4: make far more money above what that ride costs on
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  Speaker 4: an individual basis, on an individual day. So it is
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  Speaker 4: an economic driver, and we say that where our buses go,
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  Speaker 4: the economy goes as well. And so it's not just
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  Speaker 4: the workforce. It's our trips to the grocery stores, it's
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  Speaker 4: to the restaurants and so forth, even healthcare. Obviously they're
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  Speaker 4: all driving the economy from that perspective, and I think
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  Speaker 4: we probably take for granted at times how much of
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  Speaker 4: a driver that is, and we don't emphasigens that as much.
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  Speaker 4: But obviously the workforce development piece the workforce getting people
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  Speaker 4: to where they need to go for the work that
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  Speaker 4: needs to be done, and that is a benefit that
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  Speaker 4: a lot of workforce employers are finding as a true
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  Speaker 4: benefit that they can exercise with their employee base.
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  Speaker 1: Greg Ate Steve Davis are with us from the Reagan
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  Speaker 1: Mass Transit District. We took a look back, and that's
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  Speaker 1: great news. I mean moving forward obviously, you know, moving
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  Speaker 1: forward into twenty twenty five. Oh you can really you know,
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  Speaker 1: move ahead, you know with the great the figures that
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  Speaker 1: Steve shares with us from twenty twenty four into the
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  Speaker 1: year twenty twenty five.
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  Speaker 2: But we wanted to.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about the transit desert study a little bit further
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  Speaker 1: and you know, update everybody on that what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: In that area.
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  Speaker 4: Then I think this is going to be an exciting
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  Speaker 4: study because that whole term transit desert, you can put
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  Speaker 4: it in the same category as food desert. There's a
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  Speaker 4: childcare desert out there, and there's even other deserts that
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  Speaker 4: are currently being looked at more critically. So from our perspective,
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  Speaker 4: we've started this project with the NIU Center for Governmental Studies,
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  Speaker 4: who's spearheading or leading that study on our behalf. We've
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  Speaker 4: had our first meeting it was roughly I think three
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  Speaker 4: weeks ago, and what we had a chance to do
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  Speaker 4: was actually sit down with some of the key stakeholders
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  Speaker 4: to begin with that are representing both Lee and Ogo
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  Speaker 4: counties and have some of those frank discussions to at least,
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  Speaker 4: you know, set that base line data and set the tone,
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  Speaker 4: if you will, for moving forward, because we're going to
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  Speaker 4: be doing a lot more data collection, We're going to
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  Speaker 4: be doing surveys, we're going to be doing more key
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  Speaker 4: stakeholder interviews, We're going to be doing focus groups over
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  Speaker 4: the best part or the majority of this year. This
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  Speaker 4: calendar year is going to be designated just looking at, hey,
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  Speaker 4: where are those areas in Lee and Ogo Counties? People
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  Speaker 4: are saying, what is a transit desert? Well, it's an
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  Speaker 4: area within in our case, the two county area of
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  Speaker 4: Lee and Ogle Counties where there seems to be some
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  Speaker 4: lack of transit options. It could be public transportation, it
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  Speaker 4: could be something that's very internal to those smaller areas
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  Speaker 4: incorporated or unincorporated areas of the two county area, and
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  Speaker 4: we need to start basically looking at what those needs
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  Speaker 4: are for those residents or are living in those areas.
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  Speaker 4: So I like cracking open the conversation and just starting
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  Speaker 4: the conversation about what needs to be done. It's important
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  Speaker 4: that we will look at the workforce areas. It's it's
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  Speaker 4: important that we look at the housing as well as
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  Speaker 4: the childcare and the food deserts that are out there,
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  Speaker 4: because I think they all have a link, and transit
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  Speaker 4: deserts are probably going to provide some of the same
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  Speaker 4: type of data. What is minimizing these people from potentially
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  Speaker 4: having a better quality of life moving forward because they
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  Speaker 4: just have restrictive options when it comes to leaving their home.
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  Speaker 4: You look at some of the data even here on
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  Speaker 4: the southwest side of Dixon, and you look at the
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  Speaker 4: number of homes that either have no vehicle or have
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  Speaker 4: one vehicle, and I will say that it hovers around
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  Speaker 4: a ten to twelve percent on this side of Dixon.
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  Speaker 4: That's pretty substantial. That means if one of the breadwinners
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  Speaker 4: of that home leaves with the vehicle, that means the
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  Speaker 4: rest of those individuals in that household are on an
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  Speaker 4: island and they are in a transit desert and are
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  Speaker 4: not able to unless they're using a bike, unless you're
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  Speaker 4: using their own obviously feet to walk, They're pretty much
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  Speaker 4: going to be staying at home for most of the
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  Speaker 4: day until that other breadwinner gets home with the vehicle. So,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I think it's taking those situations, those examples
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  Speaker 4: and really taking a closer look and saying what do
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  Speaker 4: we need to do in terms of next steps from
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  Speaker 4: meeting the needs of those individuals in those areas of
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  Speaker 4: the two kindt of areas. So from that perspective, very excited,
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  Speaker 4: I shamelessly will look at what we can do in
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  Speaker 4: terms of public transportation for the two kind of area,
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  Speaker 4: what can we do to actually meet those needs and
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  Speaker 4: you know, take that barrier down because it can be
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  Speaker 4: a rather sizable barrier.
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  Speaker 1: So there's gonna be a lot of questions asked, there's
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  Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of surveys done, and I'm assuming
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  Speaker 1: that you know online as well as you know in person.
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  Speaker 1: You know, when when a person gets a chance to
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  Speaker 1: take a survey, they'll be offered the chance to do that.
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  Speaker 1: But a lot of it probably will go online then
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  Speaker 1: and we'll see a lot of it on your websites
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  Speaker 1: and things like that.
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  Speaker 2: So stay tuned for that. That will be all year long.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds like, you know, this canna be your long
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  Speaker 1: project and we're going to compile a lot of data,
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  Speaker 1: you know, from this transit desert study that again Reagan
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  Speaker 1: Mass Transit and NIU are coaborating about with the this
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  Speaker 1: effort for this year.
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  Speaker 2: Just a quick, quick couple.
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  Speaker 1: We only have about a half minute left to go
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  Speaker 1: quickly the Ogle County facility. Where do we stand there, Greg.
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  Speaker 4: It is in Dot's hands, okay, So we're waiting for
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  Speaker 4: the thumbs up, all right. We're hoping it's coming this week.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: And the you know, the work on the permanent routes.
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  Speaker 1: How are we sitting there, Steve, you have any information
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  Speaker 1: about that?
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  Speaker 3: One's a little farther back, but you know, we're still
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  Speaker 3: we're preparing. We've got thoughts on how we're going to
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  Speaker 3: make that look. But that one will get the Oregon
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  Speaker 3: one done and then we'll start in now.
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  Speaker 1: That okay, all right, So again a couple of you
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  Speaker 1: know projects along with busy you know, busy compilation period
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to be in with the Reagan Mass
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  Speaker 1: Transit District along with their regular routine, you know, and
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  Speaker 1: their regular business days through Reagan Mass Transit. It's a
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  Speaker 1: busy time for that organization. But Greg and Steve, we
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  Speaker 1: appreciate you guys dropping by and giving us the update
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  Speaker 1: today here at AM fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank Youst Greg and Steve Davis from the Reagan Mass
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  Speaker 1: Transit District. Our guess on the twins Day morning talk
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: line here at w i X in News First. Next,
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  Speaker 1: here comes Tim Lee.