Job Access and Reverse Commute (jarc) Program fy 2009 Service Profiles Region X alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington October 2010 fta-08-0162 Job Access and Reverse Commute (jarc) fy 2009 Service Profiles: Region X

Evaluation: Ridership data, customer comments, and surveys are collected and monitored. On the Sandy-Estacada route ridership increased approximately 74% between Oct. 2006 and Oct. 2009. Recent surveys show the ridership on that route is 89% transit dependent.
Ridership on the Sandy-Gresham route increased 19% between October 2006 and October 2009. Surveys for both services indicate 46% of all trips were job related; over 50% of all riders had an annual household income below $20,000; and 44% would not be able to make the trip without transit.
Accomplishments: The increased ridership is evidence of great accomplishment. Customer comments are overwhelmingly positive. The service has been designed in response to the community surveys within budgetary constraints. Barriers have been eliminated or minimized for maximum convenience to passengers, i.e., reducing need for transfers, simplification of and coordinating the schedule with other routes, eliminating fare, and adjusting the route.
Two of the most significant components to the success of the S-E service was: 1) adding one service hour- from 4 to 5 per day and, 2) interlining this service with another, Mountain Express, in order to gain efficiencies for both services by using one driver and vehicle for most of the day rather than both operating with split shifts.
Lessons learned: The service requires enough frequency to make it useful to the customer. It's a fine line between too little and enough. Leave a service in place long enough to get an accurate read on effectiveness (6-12 months). It takes the community a while to adjust to changes, too many changes make the service unpredictable and the customer base insecure. It is hard to do when the changes didn’t look immediately successful. Some people will be served that you did not anticipate and others that you expected to will not use the service.

Yamhill County (777)

Yamhill County Transportation (1641)

Location: Yamhill County (OR)