Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line 07-29-26: RMTD's Greg Gates & Marcus Cox talk public transportation expansion

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Talk Line 07-29-26: RMTD's Greg Gates & Marcus Cox talk public transportation expansion · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome back Sock Valley. You're with the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Waking Crew here on FM ninety five one and AM
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: fourteen sixty w I x N. It's eight sixteen on
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  Speaker 1: your Wednesday morning, and you know what that means. It's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: time for talk line. Oh my god. These buttons press
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  Speaker 1: on the board, they just they just don't want it
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  Speaker 1: goes sometimes, just gonna get it right there. I'm joining
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  Speaker 1: the booth once again by our good friends from the
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  Speaker 1: Reagan Mass Transit District. Greg Gates and Marcus Cox are
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  Speaker 1: in the studio. Gentlemen, how are you doing welling well?
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  Speaker 2: Doing well? Yeah, today's Wednesday, right, suns out eighty one
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: degrees the high today. I'm in here with Brandon Clark.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, life cannot get any better.
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  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, low humidity, good weather, good company. Absolutely
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  Speaker 1: loving that and you know, starting off on a good
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  Speaker 1: note today here. When it comes to public transportation in
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  Speaker 1: the Sock Valley is the expand of the Reagan Mass
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  Speaker 1: Transit District with the annexation of the Whiteside Whiteside County itself.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was we had to hook it
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  Speaker 2: up to the trailer and you know, start pulling it
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  Speaker 2: along with us. But no, it's been almost thirty days
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  Speaker 2: since we started the service, which just to remind people, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: it started as of July first, which was midweek on
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  Speaker 2: a Wednesday. And I think Marcus can give more of
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  Speaker 2: the appreciation in terms of the overall ridership, how that's
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  Speaker 2: picking up and so forth. But it's been going knock
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  Speaker 2: on wood for my coat, whatever might that might be
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  Speaker 2: the case. It's been going well. So I think we've
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  Speaker 2: been very fortunate so far with the transition, and the
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  Speaker 2: staff are getting more acclimated with those who came over,
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  Speaker 2: both the drivers as well as dispatchers. And yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: don't know what you want to add to the mix
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  Speaker 2: from your sign.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, I completely agree with you. I think
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  Speaker 3: that at this point in the game, right, we're twenty
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  Speaker 3: nine days in and things are going I would say
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  Speaker 3: as well as they could. I think maybe sometimes it's
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  Speaker 3: important to understand when we say we added Whiteside County
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  Speaker 3: to the Reagan Mass Transit District, right, like that isn't
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  Speaker 3: just saying hey, we're able to provide service to Whiteside
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  Speaker 3: County for residents or those that are in Lee or Ogal, Right,
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  Speaker 3: but that means that we started providing transportation for those
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  Speaker 3: that were already utilizing Whiteside public transit. So it's kind
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  Speaker 3: of taking our service and increasing it, you know, by
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  Speaker 3: really depending on the day, it could be increasing it
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  Speaker 3: by double it could be increasing it by seventy five percent.
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  Speaker 3: But I mean to give everyone kind of an idea,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm going to give averages here. Right prior to
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  Speaker 3: operating with Whiteside County, we were looking at anywhere I
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  Speaker 3: would say, probably around one hundred and forty rides a day,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm probably shooting on the low side there, but
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  Speaker 3: I'm trying to be consistent and courteous. But now with
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  Speaker 3: Whiteside Incorporated, over the last twenty nine days, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we have a board in our dispatch office that displays
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  Speaker 3: all of our statistics, and I know that I've seen
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  Speaker 3: days where you know, we've done with Whiteside now two
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  Speaker 3: hundred and five. I also know I saw one day
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  Speaker 3: last week where we did two hundred and ninety two.
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  Speaker 3: So there's a bit of a fluctuation there, but that's
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  Speaker 3: to be expected. And so I think, you know, overall
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  Speaker 3: things are going well, We're going to continue to see
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  Speaker 3: those numbers climb, especially as we have others that are.
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  Speaker 4: Become more aware of the service right.
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  Speaker 3: And are able to recognize the benefits that we're providing
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  Speaker 3: throughout the region but also in Whiteside County. So maybe
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  Speaker 3: that's just a long window way of saying, yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: think it is going well at this point in time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think is more and more people
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  Speaker 1: become aware, they get the idea that this is something
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  Speaker 1: that can become a regular option. Again, we've discussed many
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  Speaker 1: times for we're really kind of lucky for an area
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  Speaker 1: our size to have such a robust public transportation system.
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  Speaker 1: And the fact is that, well it's a you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you've only got one vehicle, or you've got multiple,
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  Speaker 1: but one goes down and you need a solution for
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  Speaker 1: a while, or maybe you start to kind of look
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  Speaker 1: at your life and say like, how can I simplify things?
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  Speaker 1: And that's you know, that's really great where you can
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  Speaker 1: have that option. You know, parents, maybe you don't need
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  Speaker 1: to buy another car when your kid turns sixteen.
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  Speaker 4: Maybe they need a.
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  Speaker 1: Bus pass because you can get them everywhere. And uh,
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  Speaker 1: if we can start getting some some buses that can
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  Speaker 1: haul some furniture, guys, I might be able to give
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  Speaker 1: up my truck. Yes, okay, you know, I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're they're gonna I'm gonna need to use a lot
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  Speaker 1: utilize the most most days.
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  Speaker 4: So but that's what I'm gearing for next.
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  Speaker 1: First to know, I appreciate that, but no, seriously, this
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  Speaker 1: is uh, it's it's just it is an option that
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  Speaker 1: you can sit there and make public transportation many many
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  Speaker 1: folks and cities that have already you know, had the
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  Speaker 1: kind of system that we have had for much longer
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  Speaker 1: to kind of know that this is something that is
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  Speaker 1: a viable option. You can make public transportation your regular
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  Speaker 1: way of life.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's one of the from our side of
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  Speaker 2: the coin, if you will, I think that's one of
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  Speaker 2: the cool things about what rural public transportation could now
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  Speaker 2: become more of. It could be that silent partner in
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  Speaker 2: a family's mixture of getting around two different locations, or
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  Speaker 2: a student getting around to different locations. And I think
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  Speaker 2: we're up for that challenge of trying to figure out
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  Speaker 2: how can we make it even more of an integral
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  Speaker 2: part of an individual or a family's you know, daily life.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's something that in the past probably
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  Speaker 2: has been more of a when you need it, it's
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  Speaker 2: their type of thing. Well, we're here, use us in
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  Speaker 2: terms of for that regular service connection you need to
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  Speaker 2: make to a lot of different community resources. And I
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  Speaker 2: think there's probably also you know, there's probably not a
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  Speaker 2: huge amount, but there are individuals out there that say,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I'm just done with a car. They're so
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  Speaker 2: expensive these days, you know, putting fuel in is just
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  Speaker 2: another cost element that I could save money on. And
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  Speaker 2: probably for whatever you spend gas on in a given year,
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  Speaker 2: you could buy you know, ten times over or that
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  Speaker 2: and bus passes and still net something in the long run.
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  Speaker 2: But I think it's that relationship becoming more of a
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  Speaker 2: part of somebody's life because they're choosing not to want
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  Speaker 2: to have that car payment, or they just simply feel
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  Speaker 2: as though, you know, they're a little more concerned about
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  Speaker 2: the environment. Hey, let's all get on a larger bus
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  Speaker 2: and minimize the greenhouse gas emissions, if you will, from
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  Speaker 2: that perspective. So I find that very intriguing, very challenging
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  Speaker 2: to find out how we can move that, if you will,
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  Speaker 2: even further in the relationship with our constituency and now
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  Speaker 2: this growing district, because I think that's another piece that
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  Speaker 2: we just haven't fully realized or blown out yet in
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  Speaker 2: terms of well, you could make different routes within now
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  Speaker 2: our three county mass transit district that just were not
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  Speaker 2: possible previously and now they are. And it's like, okay, well,
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  Speaker 2: it's sort of like starting with a blank canvas, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, certain areas have already been filled in, but
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  Speaker 2: not quite the final product is there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it's a time. I think it's
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  Speaker 1: time of people, you know, really getting to learn just
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  Speaker 1: how how robust it is, you know what I mean,
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  Speaker 1: Like you said, there's always that thought of it's there
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  Speaker 1: if you need it, so if you don't need it,
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  Speaker 1: you're not thinking about it and then not even looking
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  Speaker 1: up to do any research until like, oh, what's available,
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  Speaker 1: and then you're like, oh, geez, I didn't realize this
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  Speaker 1: whole time.
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  Speaker 4: I am this is what was available to me.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it's just like relationships with businesses as well.
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  Speaker 2: I think Marcus is ready to field some phone calls today.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a challenge business owners. If you want to
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  Speaker 2: get your you know, your employee base to work the
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  Speaker 2: workforce on a regular basis, and you might want to
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  Speaker 2: pick up that as a benefit for them. Clearly we're
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  Speaker 2: gained for also having those type of conversation, those partnerships,
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  Speaker 2: because again, there's plenty of businesses out there that do
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  Speaker 2: have job openings and they're just looking to feel those
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  Speaker 2: fill those job openings with you know, warm bodies and
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  Speaker 2: reliable people who can get to work you know, Monday
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  Speaker 2: through Friday or whatever the schedule might be.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that would be cool.
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  Speaker 1: That would be a very cool kind of partnership and
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  Speaker 1: know and kind of a boone even for employers to say,
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  Speaker 1: you know, this.
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  Speaker 4: Is we we have these regular ways.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to take advantage of this where you
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  Speaker 1: can come, get on public trains, titation, you don't got
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  Speaker 1: to worry about getting to work. That's a very cool
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  Speaker 1: thing to one day be able to say to your employees.
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  Speaker 1: So I love that speaking of the offices getting it
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  Speaker 1: done right, because that would be a way for HR
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  Speaker 1: to get it right. You guys got some updates on
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the construction in the Oregon office we do look at
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  Speaker 1: I was like doing that, that's that what's what we
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  Speaker 1: had on the list.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well I think we actually have some breaking news.
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  Speaker 4: Oh okay, I love that getting to hear it.
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  Speaker 2: First, so you know, in the overused Brandon, you're the
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  Speaker 2: first to hear this, as are the listeners, because nobody
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  Speaker 2: else has really heard this yet except for staff internal.
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  Speaker 2: We did get confirmation yesterday afternoon before or around the
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  Speaker 2: close of business for the day that we have concurrence,
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  Speaker 2: which means effectively we can move forward with the po
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  Speaker 2: for the construction, most likely scheduling a groundbreaking in the
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  Speaker 2: very very near future, and then we're going to see
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  Speaker 2: some cool activity with big trucks and excavators on that site,
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  Speaker 2: and you're going to see a building going up and
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  Speaker 2: hopefully within I think their projected time frame is around
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  Speaker 2: two hundred and eighty days total start to finish. So
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  Speaker 2: it's becoming very real now. And we have some some
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  Speaker 2: obviously diligence parts on our side of the equation working
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  Speaker 2: in hand in hand with our architect and engineering firms
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  Speaker 2: and then also obviously the general contractor in bringing that
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  Speaker 2: whole thing to life. So from that perspective, it's been
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  Speaker 2: in a process and I'm glad to say that, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have a groundbreaking.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I you know, respectfully, I had to defer
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  Speaker 3: to Greg on this because as you said, this has
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  Speaker 3: been a long time coming. This has been four years
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  Speaker 3: in the making, correct me if I'm wrong, right, but
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: four years in the making since the initial kind of
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  Speaker 3: progress started moving on this through the purchase of the land,
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  Speaker 3: to the grand request to the Illinois Department of Transportation
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  Speaker 3: for the funding, et cetera. But you know, I think
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  Speaker 3: one of the important pieces to note about this, right
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  Speaker 3: is that sometimes maybe people wonder like, well, why would
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  Speaker 3: you have multiple offices? What would be the reasoning to
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  Speaker 3: you know, we have a facility here in Dixon, you know,
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  Speaker 3: so why would you have another one? And I think
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  Speaker 3: it's important to point out right that as our district expands,
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  Speaker 3: we need to logistically and efficiently be able to provide
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  Speaker 3: service effectively and financially be responsible with the funding. Right,
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  Speaker 3: So by having a location available in Oregon for us,
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  Speaker 3: that allows us to have less travel time, less miles
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  Speaker 3: that are put on our vehicle, less fuel that we're
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  Speaker 3: spending traveling to Mount Morris, Oregon. Actually, right, we're also
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  Speaker 3: providing service to rural Winnebago County. So our vehicles, we
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  Speaker 3: do have a couple of vehicles that do start an
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  Speaker 3: Oregon now that are excuse me part of the hub
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  Speaker 3: city Sorry Rock River Center in Oregon. But this will
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  Speaker 3: give a facilities where we can house vehicles, we can
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  Speaker 3: have dispatchers available, which makes things a bit more efficient
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  Speaker 3: and effective and doesn't kind of extend out times for
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  Speaker 3: travel and helps us to be able to just provide
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  Speaker 3: service better overall for everyone. So that's the reasoning that
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  Speaker 3: we have these different kind of I would say satellite
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  Speaker 3: or remote locations is to make sure that we're not
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  Speaker 3: just starting and ending in Dixon, because then we're incurring
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  Speaker 3: costs and making things a little bit more ineffective for us.
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  Speaker 4: So I just want to give a little bit of
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  Speaker 4: insight on that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. If you're going to extend your reach,
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  Speaker 1: you need that. You know, you need a good localized
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  Speaker 1: base to pull them back to and so of like
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  Speaker 1: you said, needlessly just coming all the way back here
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: every time and then trying to extend that reach out further.
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  Speaker 1: It just becomes inefficient when you could have this office
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  Speaker 1: and now you're able to do this and then so
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  Speaker 1: much more so it makes sense to me. I absolutely
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: get that you also wanted to share some upcoming public events.
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  Speaker 2: Well, tonight we'll be at City Market a couple of
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: our staff members will be down there actually fielding questions,
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  Speaker 2: you know, finding out what people would have, as you know,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: queries in terms of how do you get involved with
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: reggae mass transit district, how do you schedule a ride?
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  Speaker 2: And I think the nice thing tonight is we're going
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: to actually have a dispatcher as well as a transit
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: manager down there, both of whom are well in tuned
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: with that entire process. So literally, if you would pick
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: up the phone right now and call dispatch, you're going
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: to probably talk to one of these individuals. So actually
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  Speaker 2: having some dedicated time to actually have a conversation with
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  Speaker 2: potentially at length tonight as part of the City Market,
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  Speaker 2: I think that's going to be very very beneficial for
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  Speaker 2: you know, breaking down some of those walls and filling
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: those gaps with knowledge that people might simply have, as
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you know, a misunderstanding right now, or they're just curious
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  Speaker 2: as to you know, they themselves are a loved one
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  Speaker 2: needs regular transportation and they're trying to figure out how
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  Speaker 2: to make that happen. I mean, I was at City
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  Speaker 2: Market last week and fielded a question from an older
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  Speaker 2: person who was just finding out information about a friend
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: of theirs, and how do you actually migrate making regular
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: appointments and so forth, because clearly this person would have
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: to have some regular metal medical appointments rides for those,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: and I think it can be a little daunting. So
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I think we're trying to take some of the misnomers,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: some of the misinformation out of that equation and make
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: it much more simple, and you know, have discussions about
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: the subscription rides, which effectively makes it much easier for
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: somebody if they're going to have regular occurring appointments on
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: specific dates and times or days and times, that's an
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: easy relationship to start. Get comfortable with it, and you
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: can always mutate it, however, But that's one that's coming up.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: I know that we're going to be doing the Fiesta
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Parade in September. I know that we're going to be
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: at Autumn Parade in Oregon and October. I think we're
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: doing the Scarecrow Festival in Downtown Dixon in September as well.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: And I think there's plenty of other activities we're doing,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: some of which are probably jumping out of this gray
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: matter right now, but maybe into years.
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  Speaker 3: Marcus, Yeah, no, you were naming all the ones I
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: was thinking of. I know that after just looking at
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: our calendar a couple of days ago, we had twelve
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: events scheduled between now and October. So yeah, city market events,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: We're going to be at a couple of senior job fairs,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: et cetera. So you'll see us out in the in
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: the public. And it's our way, like Greg said, you
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: just get in front of people to be able to
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: allow those questions to kind of happen organically, and to
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: just do what we can to make sure that we're
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: getting an information to people is as easily as possible.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Awesome and gentlemen, we're out of time. But if anybody
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: has any more you know, they have any questions about
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: anything you talk about, want any more information about Reagan
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: mask transit and what you offer, what's the best way
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to do it?
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Best way to do it, give us a call at
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: our office eight one five two eight eight two one
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: one seven. That'll put you through to our dispatch office.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: If you have any questions for myself or for Greg
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: or for Steve Davis, our deputy director, we are more
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: than happy to field and answer any questions. But otherwise
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: that line will get you in touch to be able
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: to book a ride directly, so don't hesitate to call
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: at anytime.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: There you go, you got the number, Give them a call,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Marcus greg thank you so much for coming in sharing
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: all this information and all the fine work you do
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: to expand public trans rotation in the Sauk Valley. I
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: look forward to seeing how far that reach gets you.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks Brandon, thank you,