ANCHORAGE - The Municipality of Anchorage's (MOA) Public Transportation Department (PTD) on Wednesday released a System Report Card that analyzes how the new bus system operated during its first year of service.
People Mover implemented significant changes to its bus system on October 23, 2017 in an effort to curb a trend in declining ridership. Bus service shifted from an infrequent system that prioritized coverage over ridership to a more direct and frequent service with buses arriving every 15 minutes in some parts of town.
The analysis of the first year of the new bus system found that it operated better than expected, but there's still room for improvement.
During the first few months of the new bus system, People Mover saw a decline in ridership, but the decline was less than what had been projected if the old system had stayed in place. By July, overall ridership began to increase, and those increases continued through October. Sunday ridership has also increased since the implementation of the new bus system.
"When we rolled out the new system, we predicted that it would take a year or two before we started to see ridership increases. In reality, weekday ridership started to increase toward the end of the summer and has continued ever since," said Bart Rudolph, PTD Planning and Communications Manager.
The data presented in the System Report Card will be used as a baseline and a starting point to have conversations with the community and help establish where the Public Transportation Department goes from here. The release of this report also kicks off a short-range planning effort at PTD called Transit on the Move. The plan will make recommendations for Anchorage public transit for the next three to five years and help determine what's next: Where should PTD add or modify service and how can the system work better for more people?
"The system is working well for those within walking distance, but there are still parts of the Municipality without any bus service. We're very pleased with the progress that's been made so far and anticipate continued improvements moving forward as we plan and prioritize future investments based on what's important to the community," said Jamie Acton, PTD Director.
The System Report Card and more information about Transit on the Move can be found online at www.peoplemover.org/TransitOnTheMove.
For more information, please contact Bart Rudolph at 907.343.8490.
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About People Mover - People Mover is a division of the Municipality of Anchorage's Public Transportation Department (PTD) and is the largest public transit provider in the State of Alaska. People Mover offers safe, reliable and affordable transportation services about 10,500 times per weekday and its buses travel 2.1 million miles annually. Besides operating People Mover, MOA's PTD also operates AnchorRIDES and RideShare services. Learn more about People Mover at http://www.peoplemover.org/ where you'll also find information about mTicket, People Mover's mobile ticketing app, and how to get bus arrival times via text messaging.