Title
Briefing to Council Regarding Atomic City Transit Saturday Service Pilot Program and Bandelier Service Update
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Saturday Service Pilot Program
During the 2019 budget hearings, Council approved $250,000 for a weekend transit service pilot program from White Rock to the Los Alamos downtown district during the Bandelier Shuttle service time frame (mid-May through mid-October). The main goal was to provide visitors returning from Bandelier with the opportunity to also explore downtown Los Alamos and surrounding businesses. Council also desired this service be available to the Los Alamos County community as well. The pilot service, originally conceived as a fixed route service model, was scheduled to begin in the Summer of 2020, but was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID in the Spring of 2020. Since COVID, maintaining staffing levels at Atomic City Transit (ACT) for regular weekday service has been a challenge and delayed consideration of implementing a Saturday Service Pilot until 2025.
With a change in National Park Service resources in 2025 leading to changes to Bandelier Shuttle Service and the implementation of the SPARE MyRide App and Software, it allowed ACT to implement a 13 Saturday Pilot On-Demand Transit Service from August 2 through October 25.
The On-Demand service provided door to door service within and between Los Alamos Townsite and White Rock. Riders could reserve rides through the MyRide App or by calling the Transit Dispatch from 9:00AM to 5:30PM during the pilot. To operate the Saturday Pilot, 5 staff members were utilized volunteering for overtime shifts that included 1 Supervisor, 1 Dispatcher, and 3 Drivers.
Extensive promotion of the service was conducted working with the Public Information Office, library and included fun cross promotions with the County Fair and Rodeo, BearFest, Atomicon and the Fall Arts and Crafts Fair.
Across the thirteen Saturdays, a total of 359 trips transporting 471 passengers were provided. ...
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