CA: Local governments seek input on bus trips

The Humboldt County Association of Governments has spent the past two months holding hearings across the land. The agency wants to know if the public has any unmet transportation needs by the end of the month — trips you’d like to take by bus that aren’t offered by a local system.

During a presentation to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Humboldt County Director of Public Works Tom Mattson said this includes trips for anything from doctors appointments, social activities or to work. HCAOG does this process every year to keep receiving Transportation Development Act funds.

“This is a one-half cent sales tax that we all pay to the state of California, and it goes back out to counties and cities, to provide transit,” said Mattson.

One public commenter, Joanne McGarry, a car-free resident of Arcata, spoke on some gaps in the bus system she’s noticed.

“I was cast in a play at the Ferndale Rep. I decided not to do it because transportation was difficult,” from Arcata to Ferndale, she said.

She’s also wanted to go to Scotia and Loleta, but bus service was spotty.

During a summary of ridership, Mattson said overall, ridership tanked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but ”we are finally starting to climb back up to our pre-COVID numbers,” he said.

Humboldt County Director of Public Works Tom Mattson gave a quick presentation on the process. (Screenshot)

In total, there were 480,300 total passenger trips on Humboldt Transit Authority in fiscal year 2023-2024, he said.

Supervisors spoke on improvements in recent years, like a popular route to Willow Creek or a recent $18.7 million grant that aims to add a 15-minute frequency service from Scotia to Trinidad. Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo noted the public transit authority has found success in getting capital improvement funds from state and federal sources.

“We do currently have funding for operations at the level that we are currently operating. The systems we currently have in place are funded for at least the next couple of years,” she said.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone asked how Measure O relates to the transit board: “Say that we want to allocate some amount of money, not half or anything like that, but significant money. And so how do you see that process evolving in terms of supporting some transportation?” he asked.

Mattson said there’d be an allocation committee to determine annual and longer-term allocation plans “leaning heavily on the unmet transit needs process information,” he said.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said on the topic of Measure O, he’s gotten very few calls from his district about bus service.

“I average five to 10 phone calls a week about roads,” he said.

“I’m going to stick to getting the work done that needs to be done on the roads, because that’s my issue,” he added.

In order for the needs to be considered in this process, according to Mattson, service must be operationally feasible and financially sustainable, have adequate roadways, must be safe to operate and sufficient funding must be available from identified funding services to cover the services marginal operating costs for at least three years.

Comments are accepted year-round but must be submitted by Dec. 31 to be considered for 2025. An online survey can be found at https://bit.ly/HumboldtTransitNeeds. Comments can be emailed to [email protected], called in at 707-444-8208, mailed or in-person at HCAOG’s office at 611 I Street, Suite B, Eureka.

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