GoZone Fares Increase, Three Bus Routes End on January 1

DCTA will raise GoZone fares and cut three more Denton Connect bus routes starting January 1, 2023. GoZone fares in Denton will increase to $1.50 plus 50 cents for each mile after four miles with a cap of $5. Denton Connect routes 2, 4 and 5 will be cut.

*DCTA January 1 service and fare changes.*

GoZone Fares

Since service began in September 2021, GoZone fares have been $0.75 per trip, half the price of a trip by bus or train. DCTA planned for the promotional fare to last for six months but instead offered it for 15 months.

While discussing the permanent fare structure for GoZone, the DCTA Board opted for a flat fee of $1.50 for riders in Lewisville and Highland Village. GoZone trips in Denton will have a base fare of $1.50 plus an additional $0.50 per mile for trips over four miles with a fare cap of $5.

During the July 2022 DCTA Board meeting, DCTA staff shared that 44 percent of GoZone trips across all three zones are longer than four miles.

*Completed rides by distance (Source:* *DCTA Board Meeting on July 28*)

Board members hope the additional fee for longer trips in Denton will discourage riders from using GoZone for these trips. Long trips reduce how many passengers per hour each GoZone vehicle can carry and can result in longer wait times and higher rejection rates for other passengers.

Higher GoZone fares can encourage riders onto fixed-route buses, if available, which can more easily carry large numbers of passengers.

The Board chose a flat fare for Highland Village and Lewisville since neither city has bus routes.

Three More Bus Routes Cut

The removal of Routes 2, 4 and 5 on January 1 will bring Denton’s total number of Connect bus routes to three, down from eight at the beginning of 2020. Money saved from three cut routes will be re-invested in the remaining three routes, improving frequency and service hours.

The DCTA Board cut most bus routes due to ridership averaging below the desired 10 passengers per vehicle revenue hour. GoZone completes only 3.8 rides per vehicle hour city-wide in Denton, but its operation cost per vehicle hour is about half that of a fixed bus route.

*Boardings per revenue hour on DCTA buses from October 2019 through September 2020.*

Denton’s second best performing route, Route 8, was cut early in the COVID-19 pandemic as the Board sought to cut service hours due to a substantial drop in rider demand. DCTA never brought back Route 8, which traveled between the UNT campus and Downtown Denton.

The DCTA Board cut Routes 1, 2, 4 and 5 due to not meeting the desired number of passengers per vehicle hour. Based on old route schedules, DCTA began reducing service on some of these routes starting in 2019 and made significant cuts when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and people traveled less.

Route 3

Route 3 will have a 40 minute frequency, the same as its previous schedule. On weekdays, service hours will begin at 7:07 AM, and the route will begin its final run of the day at 5:30 PM. The previous weekday schedule began at 7:46 AM and began its final run from the Downtown Denton Transit Center at 6:11 PM.

Route 6

Route 6 will have improved 20 minute frequency during peak times and 33 minute frequency during off-peak times between 10 AM through 3:30 PM on weekdays. On weekdays, service hours will begin at 8 AM at Discovery Park, and the route will begin its final run from Discovery Park at 8:20 PM.

Previous frequency was 33 minutes all day on weekdays with service hours starting at 7:51 AM and the final run beginning at 6:27 PM.

Route 7

Route 7 will have improved 20 minute frequency all day on weekdays and 45 minutes on Saturdays. On weekdays, service hours will begin at 7:39 AM at Rayzor Park, and the route will begin its final run from Rayzor Park at 9:39 PM.

Previous frequency was 30 minutes during peak hours on weekdays and 60 minutes on Saturdays. Service hours on weekdays began at 7:22 AM and the final run began at 8 PM.

What’s Next

The DCTA Board approved a fiscal year 2023 operating budget of $1.6 million for Denton Connect buses and $10.4 million for GoZone in Denton, Lewisville and Highland Village.

During their October meeting, the DCTA Board approved staff further investigating and developing options to encourage riders to the most effective transportation method. This came after DCTA CEO, Paul Christina, shared that 32 percent of all Denton GoZone rides begin or end within a quarter mile walk from a fixed bus route.

*GoZone rides that began or ended within a quarter mile of a fixed bus route.*

The DCTA Board also approved funding for the purchase of the Swiftly Transit Platform, a technology that includes automatic passenger counters and next stop annunciators, among other features. DCTA’s bus ridership data currently depends on manual counts made by bus drivers, which may or may not be accurate.