Deputy City Manager Rob Steedle says officials have hit the reset button in the ongoing effort to update Juneau’s Capital Transit bus plan.
After delaying changes last month, Steedle told the Juneau Assembly on Monday that the process needs more input from drivers.
“The extent that the drivers were excluded from the process early on has caused us to really suffer and there’s a lot of negative feelings right now with that workforce,” he said.
The city has been working with consultants Nelson\Nygaard on the bus plan update for more than a year. Drivers and riders roundly criticized earlier versions of the proposed changes.
One of the goals was to expand service to Riverside Drive in the Mendenhall Valley. But that’s been complicated by budget cuts and the fact that expanding service in one area would likely mean reducing it elsewhere.
Some Assembly members have suggested restoring funding to the bus system, but Mayor Merrill Sanford questions where the money would come from.
“That’s where we are with our dollars right now,” Sanford said. “So, every time we juggle dollars, and if we say ‘We want to put a million more dollars into the transit system,’ that has to come from somewhere.”
Steedle said the number one goal in his mind is for the city’s bus system to run on time.
“When you have buses running as infrequently as 30 or 60 minutes having timed transfers, I think, is essential,” Steedle said.
The new timeline for implementing route changes calls for getting input from drivers in January and February, before putting the plan out for public comment in March. The plan would come back to the Assembly in April, with implementation tentatively set for early July.
