Last Tuesday’s monthly meeting of Bloomington Transit’s board included the first post-pandemic report that has not shown significant ridership growth in the most recent month’s year-over-year numbers.
In May 2024, BT gave 103,263 fixed-route rides, compared to 103,216 rides in May 2023. That’s still a smidgen more. But it’s nothing like the double digit percentage year-over-year increases in the first three months of 2024 and for all of 2023.
Through the first five months of the year, fixed route ridership for BT is still up by 14 percent over 2023. From January through May in 2023, BT gave 995,896 rides, compared to 1,140,666 rides in the first five months of 2024.
The one action item on the board’s Tuesday agenda was approval of a $743,000 contract with Cassady Electric, for the installation of charging equipment for some new electric buses that are supposed to be delivered starting in the fall of this year.
Also getting some discussion at last Tuesday’s board meeting was the expansion of service past the western boundary of Bloomington, to serve Cook Medical, Simtra BioPharma (Baxter), and Ivy Tech Community College, among other employment centers. BT general manager John Connell said his goal is to have some level of service out to that area by the start of the fall semester.
The contract with Cassady was the source of some grumbling among board members—over the fact that the bid was higher than anticipated, and the fact that it was the only bid submitted. But it was approved on a unanimous vote.
Connell told the board that he had asked BT’s consultant, Etica Group, to evaluate the bid, to help decide whether to put the contract out for a second round of bids. Etica had helped develop the specifications for the bids, Connell said.
According to Etica Group,the construction industry is currently seeing a surge in new projects, which has led to a lack of bidders. On top of that, Etica reported, the industry is still recovering from manpower and material shortages that have occurred over the last several years, which has resulted in an unpredictable bid market.
Another significant factor cited by Etica is that ChargePoint, which manufactured the charging equipment, mandates that all contractors installing their chargers and equipment attend a 48-hour training session. That would apply to any Cassady Electric employee working on the project. Based on those considerations, Etica recommended approving the award of the contract to Cassady.
BT board chair James McLary called it “disturbing” that for a quarter million dollars worth of work, only one bid was received.
BT board member Doug Horn said he was glad that BT was at least able to keep the money local—noting that Cassady Electric is an established Bloomington family business and has been for several years.
Also getting some discussion at last Tuesday’s board meeting was the possibility of extending service outside the city’s western limits as soon as fall 2024. Connell reported that he and Shelley Strimaitis, who is BT’s planning and special projects manager, had met with employers in the so-called Park 48 area west of town to “brainstorm” ideas for service.
The meeting had been set up by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Connell said. A big consideration is the funding source for the additional service. When the Bloomington city council enacted the ordinance in late summer 2023 which gave BT the legal authority to operate outside of city limits, the ordinance included a constraint on funding sources:
Any expansion of services outside of the city limits shall be funded through sources of revenue other than city funds or tax revenues already paid by city residents to the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation, and any resulting interlocal agreements shall be equitable in relation to the level of support city residents already provide to the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation.
Connell reported that the Monroe County government is being asked to consider funding the additional service.
On a related topic, which is the provision of service outside the Bloomington city limits to areas that have historically been served by Rural Transit, Connell reported that he had met with county commissioner Julie Thomas, county councilor Trent Deckard, Area 10 Agency on Aging executive director Chris Myers, and county attorney Jeff co*ckerill about finding a way to fund that service in 2025. Area 10 operates Rural Transit.
