Vada Rose, 78, of Arnold said she was devastated when she found out OATS Transit Inc. will stop operating a bus route in the city at the end of the year.
OATS announced it will suspend the Jeffco Express orange bus route, which operates in the city of Arnold, on Dec. 31. The organization said it will continue to operate the two cross-county routes that make stops between Arnold and De Soto.
In a statement announcing the decision, OATS, which is based in Columbia, said it no longer has local funding to help cover the cost to operate the bus in Arnold.
“The elderly are going to be affected greatly with this,” said Rose, who began riding the bus about four years ago after vision problems affected her ability to drive. “We (take the bus) to the store to get our groceries. We go to get our medicine. Some of us go to see our doctors or for therapy. This will take away our independence.”
Rose encourages residents who use the bus to contact Arnold officials to express the importance of the bus. To contact City Hall, go to arnoldmo.org or call 636-296-2100.
The bus on the Arnold route, which started in 2011, operates Monday through Friday, making four trips around Arnold with 33 stops along the way.
Arnold had provided funds to match a federal grant OATS used to operate the city bus route. However, the last deal between the city and OATS expired in March 2021.
“We were able to continue operating (after 2021) because we had other local sources that we could use,” said Dorothy Yeager, OATS Transit executive director. “Those other local sources may not be available going forward, so without the grant and city support we need to stop providing that one route at the end of the year.”
OATS sent a letter to Arnold Mayor Ron Counts on July 25 informing him about the plans to cancel the route.
The letter said the cost to operate the Arnold route averaged between $10,000 to $12,000 per month. It also said a federal grant administered by Bi-State covered about half of the operating cost.
“The city has elected to not participate and partner with OATS on providing these services, and as the federal grant is nearly fully expended, we are notifying you that OATS Transit will not be seeking to renew the grant and therefore will be ceasing operations of the Jeffco Express Arnold route on December 31, 2024, due to lack of funding,” the letter said.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said OATS had not directly contacted him asking whether the city could provide local funding again.
“There was no meeting where we said, ‘No,’ but when we received the letter, we didn’t reach out and say, ‘Can we stop this?’” Richison said. “It was more like, “OK, that is probably the right thing to do.’”
Yeager said the decision to end the Arnold route was made primarily because of restrictions on the types of grants OATS typically applies for as a rural-bus-route provider.
“Our decision has less to do with the city’s support and more to do with the (end) of the federal grant,” she said. “As a rural provider, we have limited access to urban grant funding.”
In December 2019, Arnold City Council members voted to reject an agreement with OATS that would have required the city to pay $69,104 in 2020, $70,486 in 2021 and $71,895 in 2022 to have the route operate in the city.
Later, however, OATS and city officials negotiated a new deal after the bus route stopped operating, and it restarted in March 2020 with Arnold paying up to $44,800 to cover half of the cost to operate the route through March 2021.
“The feedback I have received from the City Council is for the amount we paid, even after it was reduced, that the ridership was extremely low,” Richison said. “It was a service used by hardly anybody.”
In the statement announcing the end of the Arnold bus route, OATS said the city’s route provided 400 rides each month, and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ridership was between 500 to 600 people.
“This is unfortunate for city riders who relied on transportation to get to work, essential shopping, and business errands,” Yeager said in the statement. “These cuts not only affect our riders, but also the businesses who rely on our buses to bring customers to them.”
Rose said not having a bus route will make it more difficult for some residents to get around in Arnold, adding that some of those who regularly ride the bus have formed bonds and take the bus to have lunch together once a month.
She also said riders often look out of each other, providing food and other items when someone gets sick and can’t get out of their home.
Rose said riders often help pay the fare for someone who needs to take the bus to a cooling or heating station during extreme weather or to the Salvation Army or the Gateway Food Pantry, formerly called the Arnold Food Pantry, when they need assistance.
“Those who just sit behind their little doors don’t have a clue what all that bus does,” she said. “It doesn’t just pick someone up and deliver them here and there. It is a bus with a heart.”