Wyoming's State of Transit

Sean F. Solan, Director
Wind River Transportation Authority

Of Wyoming, a former governor once said, "We're a whole bunch of little towns spread across vast distances and connected by ribbons of highways." Providing public and community transportation in Wyoming, with its vast grasslands, mountains and sparse population, presents a unique set of challenges.

The primary role for public transit is to remove all barriers to mobility, regardless. In Wyoming, scarcity is more than a barrier. Sometimes it can be an expensive proposition. It is easier and less expensive to fill up one vehicle in a metropolitan area than it can be to retrieve one passenger in a rural setting.

In Wyoming about 66,000 persons are dependant upon public transit. Last year Wyoming transit agencies provided 2,051,908 one-way rides for those persons. Even in a sparsely populated state, that is a lot of need. In fact, during 2004 Wyoming public transit providers logged 504,704 rides for education, 170,961 for personal reasons, 106,412 for nutrition, 92,114 for employment, 79,690 for social reasons, and 1,031,504 for other reasons. This composite of rider types are from Head Start, public health, vocational rehabilitation, Medical/Medicaid, etc.

A recent transit study revealed the average cost of a door-to-door ride in Wyoming is around $5. The local match is $1.26, FTA's match is 47 cents, and WYDOT pays 79 cents. That leaves a considerable shortfall or unfunded match of $2.48. This shortfall must be faced, while utilizing creative means such as senior centers putting on bake or rummage sales and using trust account revenues from patrons. The last resort would be begging from the local governments.

Concerns:

• Rider demand is increasing an average of 12.25 percent per year. Transit agency costs are increasing by 25 percent per ride.
• 85 percent of transit providers need more funding. The match ratios need to be re-aligned.
• Local match ratios have been declining in the past few years.
• Unfunded mandates such as drug and alcohol testing and DOT physicals.

Solutions:

• Coordinated transportation service with human service agencies.
• A statewide dedicated source of local match.
• Public support for public transit.
• More funding for operating budgets including the purchase of new vehicles.
• Continued improvement in performance indicators by transit providers.

There are many benefits to supporting public transit: continued and expanded service, access to jobs, college and schools, improved safety, reduced energy consumption, reduced traffic congestion, added economic development and enhanced mobility routines, as well as potential for emergency evacuations.

The future of Wyoming public transit is a commitment to all citizens with special emphasis on the disadvantaged. Public transit is an essential service and must be allowed to survive all types of restrictions, infractions and, most of all, indifference.