DCTA Board Cuts Three Bus Routes, Increases GoZone Fares
The DCTA Board voted 4-1 to cut bus routes 2, 4 and 5 in Denton on Thursday after a lengthy discussion about GoZone fares, DCTA passes and bus services.
The DCTA Board member for the City of Denton, Council Member Alison Maguire, was the sole vote against. Members voting for the cuts were Diane Costa (Highland Village), Mayor TJ Gilmore (Lewisville), County Judge Andy Eads (Denton County) and Cesar Molina (Denton County).
As part of the vote, the Board approved a new GoZone fare of $1.50, up from the current promotional fare of $0.75. In the City of Denton, GoZone rides farther than four miles will incur an additional $0.50 charge per mile with a $5 cap.
In addition, the Board approved the elimination of GoZone passes except for individuals eligible for discounted fares, including non-profit entities. Currently, individuals can pay $48 for a monthly pass of unlimited GoZone rides. DCTA will continue to offer monthly $48 passes for unlimited rides on buses and the A-Train.
While completely eliminating routes 2, 4 and 5, the DCTA Board added service to routes 6 and 7.
Route 6 - Service hours until 7:45 PM on weekdays, increased peak frequency on weekdays to 20 minutes from 8:00 to 10:00 AM and 4:00 to 7:45 PM.
Route 7 - Increase weekday frequency to 20 minutes and Saturday frequency to 45 minutes.
Hours for Route 3 will be reduced, ending at 5:00 PM with close-of-business accommodations. Saturday service will be eliminated.
All changes are scheduled for Monday, January 1, 2023.
Recommendation approved by the DCTA Board.
Public Comments
The DCTA Board meeting began with seven comments from the public, including Denton residents and members of an area worker’s union. One commenter read posts from the Denton Downtowners Facebook group about GoZone.
As the public speaker was making her comments, members of the Denton Downtowners group reported a GoZone driver running the red light on University at Malone, causing a multi-vehicle crash.
Facebook post in the Denton Downtowners Facebook group, July 28, 2022.
Later in the meeting, Via shared GoZone safety data showing crashes severe enough to require reporting to the Federal Transportation Agency (FTA). Data is presented in incidents per 100,000 miles driven.
Number of GoZone crashes per 100,000 miles driven that require reporting to the FTA.
A crash qualifies as an FTA incident if any vehicle involved cannot be driven from the scene. Because the GoZone vehicle in Thursday’s crash was towed from the scene, the crash must be reported to the FTA.
GoZone van on tow truck following a crash on University Drive at Malone Street.
GoZone Performance
Via staff updated the Board on recent GoZone performance, sharing that ridership has continued an upward trend, eclipsing 67,000 riders in June, despite the usual dip in DCTA ridership during the summer months.
GoZone ridership and service hours by month, September through June.
Bucking past GoZone trends, seat unavailability rates and wait times improved and efficiency held steady even as ridership increased.
The monthly total of people denied transportation due to lack of available seats fell to 5 percent on average compared to the March high of 17 percent on average. Potential riders receive a “No seats available” error message when wait times are longer than 30 minutes.
GoZone efficiency and percent unavailable seats by month.
Estimated wait times also fell, averaging 17.8 minutes compared to a high of 24.5 minutes in March. However, rides do not always show up on time, so actual average wait times were 20.4 minutes in June, according to Via. Passenger time spent trying and failing to book a ride are not included in Via’s wait time data.
GoZone ridership and estimated wait times by month.
GoZone’s July 11-17 performance worsened slightly, averaging estimated wait times of 20.3 minutes and seat unavailability of 6 percent as ridership demand continues its upward climb.
GoZone service quality including the week of July 11-17.
Via representatives shared that GoZone has a budget deficit of $600,000 for the current fiscal year since ridership demand did not dip during the summer months as anticipated.
Visual demonstration of the Fiscal Year 2022 $600K budget shortfall for GoZone.
To make up for the budget shortfall, Via asked the Board whether they preferred to cut back GoZone service by 50 percent for August and September, to pull the $600,000 from next year’s budget or to add more funding to this year’s budget.
The Board unanimously approved adding an additional $600,000 to this year’s budget, concerned about the prospect of cutting GoZone service in half right as the school year starts up.
This is at least the second funding increase in GoZone’s first year of service. The last funding increase of $1.5 million was approved by the Board in April, putting the GoZone budget at or above $7.1 million, which is $2.1 million more than its original budget for Fiscal Year 2022.
DCTA has not added any funding to fixed bus routes this year in order to improve wait times or service. The budget for Connect buses this year was $916,000. In 2020 and 2021, the Connect bus budget was close to $3 million. As bus investment has decreased, so has bus ridership.
Public Feedback on GoZone
DCTA held a public input period to gather public opinion on proposed changes to fares, GoZone service and fixed-route bus service.
Nearly half of public comments on a page of the DCTA feedback site were negative while less than nine percent were positive. Commenters complained of safety issues with GoZone, including driver behavior and the location of pickup points and accessibility for disabled individuals who do not use wheelchairs.
Public feedback sentiment showed fewer than nine percent positive comments.
Positive comments were regarding the affordable cost of GoZone’s promotional $0.75 fare and proposals to improve fixed route buses.
Sixty-nine percent of survey responses came from Denton County, while 28 percent came from the 76201 zip code in the City of Denton. Board members briefly considered asking to ignore surveys from outside of Denton County before deciding it is important to hear from transit users who live in another county but use DCTA to travel around Denton County for work or otherwise.
GoZone Fares and Passes
GoZone fares have been $0.75, half-priced, since launch in September, 2021. During the same time, bus fares have been full-priced at $1.50, incentivizing riders to choose GoZone instead of fixed-route buses.
On-demand microtransit services like GoZone struggle when ridership increases. Typically, when ridership increases, service gets worse until more funding is added to increase capacity. Thus, ridership must be discouraged to a degree. This is the opposite of mass transit like buses and trains where increased ridership typically results in better service and cost-efficiency, so more ridership is encouraged.
Limiting ridership demand on GoZone was a key theme throughout discussions of its pricing.
GoZone Fare Pricing
First, the DCTA Board discussed how to discourage longer GoZone trips which reduce how many passengers it can accommodate per hour. DCTA staff shared that 44 percent of GoZone rides are longer than four miles.
Around 44 percent of all GoZone rides are longer than four miles.
The distance a passenger travels on a fixed-route bus makes no difference on the service of the bus since the route is not affected and, except in very dense cities, there is plenty of capacity for passengers.
The DCTA Board agreed that GoZone fares should match the $1.50 base fare for buses and that Denton GoZone fares should include an additional per-mile fee for trips longer than four miles. After debate between a $0.25 or $0.50 fee per mile after four miles, Board members opted for a base fee of $1.50 plus $0.50 for every mile after four miles in Denton.
GoZone fares in Lewisville and Highland Village will be a flat $1.50 with no per-mile fee since riders in these cities have only GoZone service and no buses.
GoZone rides in the Denton zone will be capped at $5.
GoZone Passes
The option to purchase a daily, weekly or monthly GoZone pass was eliminated due to concerns it may increase GoZone ridership demand.
Most transit agencies offer daily, weekly, monthly and annual passes to encourage more ridership by reducing the price-per-trip for frequent riders. DCTA riders can purchase a local Day Pass for $3, Weekly Pass for $15, Monthly Pass for $48 or an Annual Pass for $480. Passes are half-priced for certain individuals including seniors aged 65 years or older, Medicare card holders and students aged five to 18 years. There is also a University Pass which offers half-priced semester and annual passes to university students, faculty and staff.
Since September, riders have been able to purchase separate GoZone passes for the same cost. DCTA staff proposed creating a pass that would include unlimited rides on all DCTA services, including GoZone.
Proposed DCTA pass structure which includes GoZone, A-Train and fixed bus routes.
“This creates heartburn for me,” said Lewisville Mayor and DCTA Board member, TJ Gilmore. “I think GoZone needs to be a separate fare not included in the unlimited passes. It needs to be its own thing for a while.”
Gilmore expressed concern that offering a pass with unlimited GoZone rides could induce ridership while DCTA is still dialing in the service. He also noted the additional mileage fee in addition to the pass cost would be confusing to riders. “We have too many moving parts right now, and my proposal is simpler,” said Gilmore. “I’d rather move into a full pass system once we have another year’s worth of data or so.”
Board members Andy Eads and Dianne Costa expressed preference for a more seamless pass experience. Costa noted that someone heading from Denton to Dallas may need three separate passes if using Connect buses, GoZone, then trains down to Dallas. Eads requested more time to consider the options, citing concerns about options offering unlimited GoZone rides.
Costa added: “When I take the A-Train into Denton, we take the bus, because we know when it’s going to arrive. Would we take the GoZone when we don’t know how long it’s going to take, or will we stand in 100 degree weather for 20 minutes? I’m not sure that this unlimited rider thing is realistic.”
Despite hesitancy from Costa and Eads, Board consensus supported eliminating GoZone passes for everyone except non-profit entities and individuals who qualify for discounted fares. Due to high GoZone usage from individuals in the UNT area, Gilmore requested that students, who normally qualify for discounted fares, be ineligible for GoZone passes. DCTA staff stated they would remove students from eligibility, but it is not clear whether this was finalized.
Making students ineligible for GoZone passes would also mean high school students would not qualify to purchase GoZone passes despite qualifying for discounted fares on other DCTA services. Denton High School students without bus service would pay full price if using GoZone to travel to the new Denton High campus located off Bonnie Brae which lacks safe pedestrian or bicycle accommodations.
Read: New Denton High School to Open without Safe Bicycle or Pedestrian Access (July 26, 2022)
Cuts to Bus Routes
Consultants provided the DCTA Board with four options for Denton’s remaining fixed bus routes, all of which included eliminating Route 4 and Route 5.
Four service scenarios presented to the DCTA Board for discussion.
Board presentations and discussions about bus cuts have centered around the productivity— passengers per service hour—of GoZone and fixed bus routes. Each GoZone vehicle costs approximately $51 per vehicle revenue hour to operate compared to $107 per vehicle revenue hour for buses. Thus, each bus must average about double the number of passengers of a GoZone vehicle in order to cost the same.
Productivity of Denton Connect bus routes broken down by geography.
City-wide productivity of GoZone.
Data comparisons, however, have not been apples-to-apples between GoZone and buses.
Different calculations for revenue hour. There is evidence that “revenue hours” are calculated differently for GoZone than for buses. For buses, time spent traveling empty between bus stops counts towards “revenue hours.” For GoZone, there is evidence that time spent traveling empty between a drop-off and pick-up point does not count towards “revenue hours.” This difference skews GoZone data to appear more productive and less expensive per service hour than it actually is. It’s likely that DCTA did not apply equal productivity calculations for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Different fare pricing. When deciding which bus routes to cut, DCTA has used bus productivity data from a time when GoZone fares were half the price of bus fares, skewing riders towards one mode over the other. The DCTA Board did not apply equal fare pricing for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Different service investment. Over the past year, DCTA has incrementally cut service hours for bus routes, making the system less useful, thus discouraging ridership. Investment over the last year has been lopsided. The original FY 2022 budget was $916,000 for Connect bus routes and $5.3 million for GoZone. The DCTA Board did not apply equal funding for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Different productivity calculations. GoZone’s productivity in Denton is assessed as a full system, while bus routes are not. In lower-density areas like Highland Village, GoZone’s productivity has averaged 1.8 passengers per revenue hour on weekdays. In Lewisville, weekday GoZone productivity has averaged 2.1 passengers per revenue hour. System-wide, Denton’s GoZone productivity averages 4.7 passengers per hour. Low-density development afflicts GoZone productivity the same as fixed-route buses, but productivity of bus routes through low-density areas were compared to GoZone productivity that includes Denton’s high-density areas. DCTA did not apply equal productivity considerations for an apples-to-apples comparison.
Despite lack of an apples-to-apples comparison between the productivity and performance of GoZone and fixed route buses, the DCTA Board debated which routes to cut.
After receiving the list of options, City of Denton’s DCTA representative, Alison Maguire, shared that the only option she could support was Option D, which would eliminate Routes 4 and 5 while increasing service and frequency on remaining routes, though she expressed concern about cutting Route 4.
“Considering productivity is a good conversation,” said Maguire, “but I think the most effective way to achieve [GoZone and bus] cost parity is to invest in increasing ridership on fixed routes. To make that happen, we have to make a service that meets people’s needs: more frequency, longer hours and a cohesive network.”
Gilmore preferred cutting more routes than Option D proposed. “If we want to save money,” added Gilmore, “we cut all the [bus] routes and increase capacity by moving everyone to GoZone, but I’m not proposing that.”
Gilmore noted the data collection opportunities offered by GoZone and how the data could be used to create a high-performing bus network. “For me, this is a rebuilding exercise,” Gilmore continued. “Let’s choose a limited number of [bus] routes to make high frequency and then see the results. Then use GoZone data to design additional routes.”
Consultants cautioned the Board that trying to rebuild a bus system can be an uphill climb, as it can be difficult to recapture ridership.
Connie White, a non-voting member representing small cities, expressed concern that replacing bus routes with GoZone service could make it challenging for people to get to work on time.
Board member Costa from Highland Village preferred retaining transportation options, including both GoZone and bus routes. “We’re putting a hold on things to see how they go,” Costa said, “but if all I had was the A-Train or GoZone, I wouldn’t be able to do what I need to do in Denton. You can’t put seven people in a GoZone,” she concluded, referencing trips to Denton with her grandchildren.
County Judge Andy Eads expressed support for a more measured approach, concerned about the capacity and operational challenges with GoZone. “I think [GoZone] is a good model, but it needs to be perfected,” Eads said. “I would hate for us to abandon some of our bus routes while we’re still perfecting that process.” Eads later expressed preference for cutting Routes 2, 4 and 5, requesting a more detailed conversation about how “sensitive areas” along Route 2 would be affected.
Costa questioned why bus routes are being cut during the “discovery phase” of GoZone when Board members have stated it hasn’t been perfected. “Have any of y’all ridden the buses in Denton or GoZone?” Costa asked the room. “A commenter recently said he was late for an appointment. It’s not perfected yet.”
As Board members continued to mull over their decision, Eads questioned whether it’s best practice to end routes at 5 PM as proposed in front-runner Option E. “I wouldn’t call that best practice,” Eads stated. “The backbone of transit is confidence in the system,” he continued. “People may stop using the bus if they can’t make their appointment or get home from work.”
Staff agreed to update route end times to accommodate close-of-business but did not indicate whether that included people leaving work at 6 PM.
Despite lack of apples-to-apples data and concerns about GoZone’s capacity, reliability and safety, Board members voted 4-1 to replace Denton Connect Routes 2, 4 and 5 with GoZone service. The only vote against was Maguire, City of Denton’s representative, who stated she was only willing to vote for Option D, which eliminated two routes instead of three and reinvested in the remaining routes.
According to DCTA’s performance dashboard, Routes 2, 4 and 5 accommodated 1,875 trips in April, 2022. DCTA’s cost-per-trip for GoZone has averaged at least $11. To accommodate these trips on GoZone will require a funding increase of around $20,600 monthly, $247,000 annually.
Looking Forward
Changes approved by the Board will go into effect on Monday, January 1, 2023.
DCTA will cover closed bus stops and add signs prompting riders on how to book a GoZone ride.
DCTA’s proposed budget for FY 2023 includes $10.2 million for GoZone and $2 million for Connect fixed routes, though it’s unclear how the Board’s vote impacts the Connect budget. The 2019 Connect budget was $3.8 million. A bus budget of $10.2 million would nearly double frequency on all routes without turning away riders due to lack of available seats.
DCTA proposed budget for FY 2023.
The FY 2023 budget also includes $600,000 to fund a long-range service plan to identify strategic goals and objectives for the future of DCTA.
The last long-range plan was adopted in 2012 and included goals such as advocating for sustainable transit-supporting development practices and street patterns by encouraging higher density development, reduced parking requirements in neighborhoods near transit and improving pedestrian and bicycle connectivity to transit stops.
Further Reading:
Denton GoZone Slightly More Productive than Denton’s Least Productive Bus Route (June 7, 2022)
DCTA Seeks Public Input on Fares and Services (April 28, 2022)
DCTA Board Moves toward Replacing Most Fixed Bus Routes with On-Demand Vans (July 22, 2021)
DCTA Seeking to Replace Bus Routes with On-Demand Service (February 8, 2021)
