Bill Knittig said he plans to ask Arnold City Council members on Feb. 6 to reconsider its previous decision and commit funds for the Jeffco Express to continue a dedicated bus route in the city.
Knittig, the chairman for the city’s Commission on Aging and Disabilities, said he is encouraging other residents who use the Arnold bus service, which started in March 2011 and is set to stop running on Friday, to join him at the meeting.
The City Council meets at 7 p.m. at Arnold City Hall, 2101 Jeffco Blvd., and Knittig plans to speak on behalf of the commission during the business from the floor portion of the meeting.
“I’m asking for people to come to the meeting to be able to say how many are here in support of transportation. If there are a lot of people there, that tells them something,” Knittig said. “I’m going to ask them (council members) to do a do-over, and let’s get this right.”
Council ends funding
On Dec. 19, council members voted 7-1 against extending a contract with Jeffco Express. The contract, which had been in place since 2011, called for Arnold to pay up to $69,104 in operating cost for the bus service in 2020. That price tag increased to up to $70,486 in 2021 and $71,895 in 2022.
Ward 3 Councilman Vern Sullivan cast the only vote in favor of continuing the contract with Jeffco Express.
OATS Transit Inc. announced that the Arnold route, which circles the city five times a day with more than 30 stops per run, would end Friday since the city decided to stop providing funds for the route. The service also has been funded by a Bi-State Development grant and other grants and sponsorships.
On Dec. 1, OATS, which is based in Columbia and provides transportation services in 87 counties in Missouri, took over Jeffco Express, Jefferson County’s nonprofit bus service. The 10-year-old bus line had been owned by the Jefferson County Community Partnership (JCCP).
“We are happy that Bill is willing to take this before the council on the importance of public transportation to the city of Arnold,” said Jill Stedem, administrative and development director for OATS. “From the city’s perspective, the ridership number may to them seem low, but what they need to realize is the impact it has on businesses and the economic outlook for those businesses. We take a lot of people shopping, to work, to school and to recreational needs. The businesses are also benefiting from public transportation.”
OATS will continue to operate two cross-county routes, which mirror each other and complete three loops a day. The blue route starts in De Soto and travels north to Arnold, and the green route starts in Arnold and travels south. Both routes have stops in Hillsboro, Pevely and Festus, Stedem said.
Since the Arnold route started, the system has provided 43,586 one-way trips, OATS reported.
The cost for a one-way ticket to ride one of the buses is $2 for adults or $1 for those 60 or older or with a disability, a Jeffco Express spokeswoman said. Right now, riders who use the blue or green routes are able to travel to Arnold and receive a transfer slip to use the buses dedicated to the Arnold route without paying an additional fare.
“We as a council always welcome anyone from the community to come forward and share their thoughts and ideas for us to consider,” said Ward 2 Councilman Tim Seidenstricker, who is leading a city committee studying public transportation options for Arnold.
Route’s cost
JCCP executive director Tracy Smith said it cost $862,071.68 to operate the Arnold route from March 2011 to November 2019. The organization said Arnold paid $244,130.45 during that time period, and the federal grant covered $413,837.23 of the operating cost.
Smith said the remaining $204,104 operating cost was covered with money from fairs, other grants and sponsorships.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said Arnold records show the city paid $261,174.93 from March 2011 to November 2019. He said he didn’t know why the city records were different from JCCP records.
OATS said the city paid $57,290 in 2018 and $37,466 in 2019 for the route to operate. However, city records show Arnold paid $62,537.20 in 2018 and $46,594.69 last year.
Richison said the difference is likely because when the city paid for the bus service in 2018 that total likely included funds Arnold was billed for in 2017. He said the city also likely still owes money from 2019.
Arnold’s contract with Jeffco Express said the city could have paid up to $65,775 in 2018 and up to $67,749 in 2019. The city rarely paid the full amount it had budgeted because the JCCP received grants from the Jefferson Foundation that covered the local 50 percent match required by the federal grant.
Seidenstricker said there are other transportation options in Arnold, including JC Transit and OATS.
In Jefferson County, OATS also runs the JC Transit service for the Jefferson County Developmental Disabilities Resource Board.
OATS also has its own transportation service, primarily for seniors and disabled people. For questions about those services, call 636-933-9380.
Age Friendly Community
Knittig said the Arnold bus route is connected to the city’s three-year action plan to be an “Age Friendly Community,” so he doesn’t understand the council’s decision to stop funding the service.
Arnold is one of two communities in Missouri that has received the designation. St. Louis County is the other.
The program, which Arnold joined in January 2018, is sponsored by the World Health Organization and the AARP.
The action plan highlighted that Arnold was the only city in Jefferson County to provide a public bus system, and the Commission on Aging and Disabilities was going to take steps to increase ridership by at least 5 percent over the next three years.
On Dec. 5, council members voted 7-0 to approve the “Age Friendly Community” action plan. Sullivan was not at that meeting.
“I will talk about how in December they approved an age-friendly plan that had an outcome and goal of increasing ridership for Jeffco Express,” Knittig said. “Then in January they vote not to continue funding the transportation route. I think they lost track of what was happening.”
Seidenstricker said his committee is continuing to look at alternative ways to provide public transportation, noting it is an important piece of being an “Age Friendly Community.”
“We want to make sure the deal is the right deal that benefits the entire city,”
Seidenstricker said. “We were just concerned that the (Jeffco Express) deal was not the right way to go forward. We are an age-friendly city and we will let the citizens know the resources that are out there.”