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Record of Proceedings

Citizens Advisory on Transit Meeting – March 19, 2026: Service Changes and Transit Report Review

Boards and Commissions — Thursday, March 19, 2026
BodyRochester, Minnesota
SessionBoards and Commissions
DateThursday, March 19, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:13:39

Original source
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0:22

Since Jesse is not here, I'll just go through.

0:36

So we have two main items on here.

0:39

It would be the January transit reports.

0:44

This is really just for information purposes.

0:46

So every month we will release a report that is late for two months.

0:51

So we are in March, you are not getting the January report.

0:54

In April, you'll be getting the free bill report just to give you a state of transit, what our ridership numbers are on time and what our financials are looking like.

1:05

So I attached a copy of the report to the agenda.

1:16

Um we have fixed route data, we have zips, which is our power transit service, and then we have our financials for both fixed route and for zips.

1:27

So with fixed routes, you would see that uh, and again the green bar is for 2025 last year, and then this other color is for 2026.

1:41

So we are sort of comparing what's happening this year to what happened last year, and you would see uh January ridership is a bit higher than what we had in 2025, which actually showing some growth.

1:54

We have what our completed trips here, which is basically how many trips we scheduled were we able to complete.

2:01

So in January, we had a completion rate of 99.96.

2:07

So we've missed, I think about six trips the whole of January.

2:11

And our target for completed trips is actually 100.

2:14

So we are hoping that every month we are able to complete every trip we've scheduled, but this is not at the target yet, but still pretty close.

2:23

Okay, you would see the green line for 2025.

2:30

You could tell what some of those percentages are.

2:33

So there's actually a good improvement.

2:36

To measure how effective we are, we usually consider ridership per vehicle revenue hour.

2:43

Our target for that is 15 riders per hour.

2:47

Currently, for January 2026, we were at 6.4 riders per hour.

2:54

Even with that, if you compare to what we had in January 2025, that was 5.73 all through till September of last year, that is when we were able to reach 6.7.

3:07

But it seems we have started a bit strong this year with the 6.4 instead of the 5.7 we had in January.

3:16

For ZIPS, which is our paratransit service, ridership was a bit lower than what we had as compared to last year.

3:26

On time is also slightly low, ridership per hour is also slightly low, but uh new contractor or our subcontractor, transverse subcontractor.

3:37

So translate subcontract service power transfer services to my city.

3:42

So transdev only does or focuses on fixed routes and then my CD does power transit.

3:49

They've been working really hard to get these numbers up.

3:52

So hopefully for the rest of the months or the rest of the months and the year, we should see these numbers going up.

3:59

For our financials, these numbers are not very much up to date.

4:05

Some of the things we spent on are yet to hit our accounts.

4:08

This is just January.

4:10

So as we update these ridership or monthly reports through February, March, we are hopefully we are hoping to see these numbers show what the true state of transit is.

4:22

So I'll just quickly glance through this, but they are not as accurate as you want them to be because some of our financials are still getting our accounts.

4:32

So as I as I said, we would provide you with these reports every month, and you could review them and come with any questions you have on them.

4:43

Okay.

5:00

So we usually have service changes twice every year, mostly in the spring and the fall.

5:03

And these service changes just allow us to look at our system, see what's working, what's not, and just realign service to where demand is.

5:28

Okay.

5:28

So I'll give an update for what happened during the fall before I go into what we'll be doing this spring.

5:35

So in the fall, we discontinued four routes, which is 103, 202, 217, and 309.

5:43

We made some route frequency changes to our week weekend and evening service.

5:49

So in the evenings, we have service every 30 minutes from 7 p.m.

5:53

to 10 p.m.

5:55

We change that to every hour because ridership was just not meeting up with that demand, and we just had to cut back on service a bit.

6:03

Also, we realigned four routes, we had to shorten one route.

6:08

And what that looked like after the changes were that we were currently at 30 routes, we moved to 26 routes.

6:16

We cut back on our revenue miles and revenue hours.

6:19

So what guided these changes we made in the fall was that our operating expense.

6:26

So the state and federal gives us some money to operate our services.

6:31

The state and federal used to give us 95%, and we would just cover 5% from our fares and any advertisements we had.

6:40

But from 2026, the state was only going to cover 85%, and we had to cover 15%.

6:48

So that means that there was more, I mean, more on us to cover because five was not moving to 15%.

6:56

And our ridership was just not at the point where we couldn't make enough revenue to cover our services.

7:01

That was why we needed to reduce or cut back on service or realign service to work demand was.

7:07

So that was part of the guided principle against those changes we made.

7:12

We made the changes in November 2026, November 2025, 26th November.

7:19

And after monitoring and looking at data and performance over a few months, we noticed that even with these changes we made, we were able to increase our burdens per hour from seven to eight.

7:32

As I said, our goal for burdens per hour is 15, but at least from the changes we made in the fall, we noticed that our burdens per R increased by one from seven to eight, which is an improvement.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Transportation█████████████████████████████████████████████66%
Procedural████████████18%
Community Engagement██████9%
Fiscal Sustainability███4%
Public Safety█2%
Urban Design█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Citizens Advisory on Transit Meeting – March 19, 2026

The Citizens Advisory on Transit (CAT) met on March 19, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. in City Hall Room 104. Although a quorum was not met – only three of seven members were present (Jesse O'Driscoll, Parker M Acree, Derek S Aiono) – the committee heard informational reports and discussed proposed Spring 2026 service changes in a non‑voting session. Members gave informal verbal support for the changes, which are scheduled to take effect April 26, 2026.

Reports

  • January 2026 Transit Report (Informational): Staff presented the monthly performance report, noting that fixed‑route ridership in January 2026 was slightly higher than in January 2025, with a trip completion rate of 99.96% (six missed trips). Revenue riders per vehicle revenue hour stood at 6.4, up from 5.73 in January 2025, but still well below the target of 15. Paratransit (ZIPS) ridership was lower than last year, partly due to a new subcontractor. Financial data were described as not yet fully accurate because some expenditures had not posted. The report is provided two months after the reporting month.

Discussion Items

  • Fall 2025 Service Changes Update: Staff recapped the adjustments made in November 2025, driven by a reduction in state/federal funding from 95% to 85% of operating costs, requiring a larger local match. Four routes (103, 202, 217, 309) were discontinued; evening service frequency was reduced from every 30 minutes to every hour; and four routes were realigned. After the changes, riders per revenue hour increased from 7 to 8, and cost per rider decreased from $24 to $21. Customer feedback highlighted the elimination of service to the VA clinic on Route 206 (only 19 riders in all of 2025) and the closure of a stop at Broadway and Center Streets (later reinstated). Minor timing adjustments were also made on Route 116.
  • Proposed Spring 2026 Service Changes: Staff presented a comprehensive set of changes based on community engagement (online survey, ride‑alongs, virtual and in‑person sessions). Key proposals include:
    • Northeast: Combine Routes 101 and 206 into a new bidirectional Route 120 running every 20 minutes (improving frequency from 30 minutes). Realign Routes 102 (to peak‑only) and 116 to cover lost areas. The northern end of Route 101/206 was shortened due to very low boarding (average one boarding per day at three stops).
    • Southeast: Reduce Route 203 frequency from every 30 minutes to every 30 minutes peak / 60 minutes off‑peak, due to the end of a park‑and‑ride agreement with RCTC and low midday demand.
    • Southwest: Convert Loop Routes 306 and 307 to bidirectional service, cutting travel time to the mall from 23 to 15 minutes.
    • Northwest: Combine Routes 409 and 418 into a new route running every 20 minutes. Realign Route 411 to end at Walmart North instead of Target North, and adjust Route 413 to serve IBM. Discontinue Route 505 (shopper route running only Tuesdays and Fridays, costing ~$200,000/year) because all its stops are served by other routes. The overall effect will be a reduction from 26 routes to about 24, but with improved frequency on key corridors. After the changes, 14% of Rochester residents (up from 3%) and 50% of jobs (up from 29%) will be within a 20‑minute or better service.
    • Weekend service: Reduce operating hours by one hour in the morning and two hours in the evening on weekends.
    • Implementation date: April 26, 2026.
  • Committee Feedback: Members asked clarifying questions about operational costs, nightlife service (suggesting late‑night weekend service), and the new Link BRT system. They expressed general support for the proposals, noting the careful balance between cost savings and service improvement.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal vote due to lack of quorum. The committee gave an informal verbal endorsement, and a motion to formally indicate support for the changes passed unanimously among those present. Staff will proceed with implementation on April 26, 2026.
  • Future Agenda Items: Staff will invite Matt Lynch to present on a DOT grant (likely at the May meeting). Committee discussed potential updates on the confidential bidding process for a new transit operator (five bids received) and new federal CDL English‑proficiency requirements; staff will follow up. Members also suggested drafting a procedure for ad‑hoc virtual meetings and will consult with the city attorney.
  • The meeting adjourned without further business.

Meeting Transcript

Since Jesse is not here, I'll just go through. So we have two main items on here. It would be the January transit reports. This is really just for information purposes. So every month we will release a report that is late for two months. So we are in March, you are not getting the January report. In April, you'll be getting the free bill report just to give you a state of transit, what our ridership numbers are on time and what our financials are looking like. So I attached a copy of the report to the agenda. Um we have fixed route data, we have zips, which is our power transit service, and then we have our financials for both fixed route and for zips. So with fixed routes, you would see that uh, and again the green bar is for 2025 last year, and then this other color is for 2026. So we are sort of comparing what's happening this year to what happened last year, and you would see uh January ridership is a bit higher than what we had in 2025, which actually showing some growth. We have what our completed trips here, which is basically how many trips we scheduled were we able to complete. So in January, we had a completion rate of 99.96. So we've missed, I think about six trips the whole of January. And our target for completed trips is actually 100. So we are hoping that every month we are able to complete every trip we've scheduled, but this is not at the target yet, but still pretty close. Okay, you would see the green line for 2025. You could tell what some of those percentages are. So there's actually a good improvement. To measure how effective we are, we usually consider ridership per vehicle revenue hour. Our target for that is 15 riders per hour. Currently, for January 2026, we were at 6.4 riders per hour. Even with that, if you compare to what we had in January 2025, that was 5.73 all through till September of last year, that is when we were able to reach 6.7. But it seems we have started a bit strong this year with the 6.4 instead of the 5.7 we had in January. For ZIPS, which is our paratransit service, ridership was a bit lower than what we had as compared to last year. On time is also slightly low, ridership per hour is also slightly low, but uh new contractor or our subcontractor, transverse subcontractor. So translate subcontract service power transfer services to my city. So transdev only does or focuses on fixed routes and then my CD does power transit. They've been working really hard to get these numbers up. So hopefully for the rest of the months or the rest of the months and the year, we should see these numbers going up. For our financials, these numbers are not very much up to date. Some of the things we spent on are yet to hit our accounts. This is just January. So as we update these ridership or monthly reports through February, March, we are hopefully we are hoping to see these numbers show what the true state of transit is. So I'll just quickly glance through this, but they are not as accurate as you want them to be because some of our financials are still getting our accounts. So as I as I said, we would provide you with these reports every month, and you could review them and come with any questions you have on them. Okay. So we usually have service changes twice every year, mostly in the spring and the fall. And these service changes just allow us to look at our system, see what's working, what's not, and just realign service to where demand is. Okay. So I'll give an update for what happened during the fall before I go into what we'll be doing this spring. So in the fall, we discontinued four routes, which is 103, 202, 217, and 309. We made some route frequency changes to our week weekend and evening service. So in the evenings, we have service every 30 minutes from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. We change that to every hour because ridership was just not meeting up with that demand, and we just had to cut back on service a bit. Also, we realigned four routes, we had to shorten one route. And what that looked like after the changes were that we were currently at 30 routes, we moved to 26 routes. We cut back on our revenue miles and revenue hours. So what guided these changes we made in the fall was that our operating expense.

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