By Christian Vazquez
Mass transit systems in rural areas in Michigan are facing major challenges today, the state’s top public transit executive says.
Jean Ruestman, the administrator of the Office of Passenger Transportation in the Department of Transportation, said the first problem is the lack of adequate funding.
Her office administers funds that go to public transit agencies across the state like the Capital Area Transit Authority in Lansing (CATA) and the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) in Southeast Michigan.
Ruestman said the first challenge is that transit services have become increasingly expensive to provide, even more so with the price of fuel skyrocketing.
“You can imagine in the rural areas where they’re driving long distances to pick up people and to deliver them to the needed services,” Ruestman said.
In addition, state funding available for supporting local transit has not grown at the same rate as inflation, she said.
Furthermore, public transit funding from the Department of Transportation is at around 29% for urban systems and 30% for rural systems, she said.
Meanwhile, she said operating costs continue to rise faster than revenues coming in.
For most agencies, federal aid doesn’t account for more than 18% of local support, she said.
While most transit agencies in Michigan are pretty successful at getting local support, they are all getting tapped out, she said.
A second challenge is that hiring and retaining qualified drivers is tough, she said.
Bus driving is an arduous job, she said.
Finding mechanics is also a challenge as private industry pays more than most public agencies can afford to pay, she said.
Finally, if there is no additional money coming in, that sometimes means mass transit systems have to make cuts, whether that’s reducing their staff, reducing services, cutting raises and even cutting supplies, she said.
Carrie Thompson, the vice president of the Cadillac/Wexford Transit Authority, said there are challenges involving rising costs at the pump right now.
“That would definitely be a challenge with our budget,” said Thompson.
Thompson said her agency also has difficulty finding bus drivers.
Candidates for public transit driving jobs get background checks, looking at their driving record and other background.
The authority also wants drivers who like “working with people,” said Thompson.
“We can’t just hire anybody because we sometimes transport vulnerable populations like school kids, as well as seniors and people with disabilities. So, we’re pretty stringent about who we hire,” said Thompson.
Inflation is an ongoing struggle that most transit agencies are feeling, said Thompson.
“We are not getting enough reimbursement from the state as we would like to really make,” said Thompson. “We are working as efficiently as possible to stretch the dollar.”