DC ADRC and Transit will soon begin pilot program for rural bus service to Menomonie
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — If you are elderly or disabled, live in a rural area, and want a ride to Menomonie and back, you will soon have that opportunity.
Dunn County Transit and the Dunn County Aging and Disability Resource Center are teaming up to start a three-year pilot program to provide rural bus service to Menomonie.
The Dunn County ADRC has received an “8521” grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that is intended for an ADRC or an aging unit; the money cannot go directly to a transit department, said Tracy Fischer, director of the Dunn County ADRC, at the November 18 meeting of the ADRC Advisory Committee.
The money is expressly intended to fund transportation for elders or for people with disabilities, Fischer said.
Dunn County is fortunate to have had whoever it was that set up the transit department initially, she said.
Kent Conklin was the manager of Disabled and Elderly Transportation (DET) in Menomonie and then became the director of Dunn County Transit.
Conklin worked on a transportation development planning for Dunn County Transit in 2013. In 2010, Dunn County Transit logged 30,000 bus trips, and in 2012, the service logged 111,117 bus trips, according to the annual report presented in 2013.
Fischer said that previously, she was not aware of how fortunate the county is to have a transit system.
Larger counties, like Eau Claire County, have transit systems, but counties the size of Dunn County typically do not, she said.
At a recent forum for local politicians in conjunction with other ADRCs, one of the topics was transportation programs, Fischer said, adding that she learned counties without a transit system can provide far fewer rides for residents.
Chippewa County receives more in funding for transit because the county has a somewhat larger population than Dunn County, but a calculation of the rides that can be provided showed that Dunn County can provide seven times the number of rides per year because of the county’s transit system, she said.
Chippewa County provides individual rides or shared rides with volunteer drivers, “but when the money is gone, it’s gone,” Fischer said.
If Chippewa County residents need rides after the funding is gone, then they must pay the full cost of the ride themselves, she said.
Rural rides
Even though Dunn County is fortunate to have a transit system, the county is still struggling with transportation for rural residents, especially since there is now only one volunteer driver to provide rides for people, Fischer said.
The grant is for $113,000 and requires matching funds of about $22,000 from Dunn County. The rural transportation will be provided by bus. Austin Witt, director of Dunn County transit, has had requests for rides from rural areas, she said.
Will the rural transportation route be going to more places than Wheeler or Boyceville? asked one member of the ADRC committee.
Those were the first two areas for consideration, but then Witt suggested dividing the county up into four quadrants, Fischer said.
Bus service would be provided for each quadrant one day per week so that all of the quadrants would have bus service one day per month, she said.
The draft transportation development plan in 2013 that Conklin had written also included rural bus service that would divide Dunn County into quadrants so that each quadrant would have demand-response bus service one day per week.
Dunn County tried offering rural bus service based on the transportation development plan, but there were very few people who used the service.
Pilot project
The rural bus route is a pilot project from 2025 to 2028, Fischer said.
The funding is flexible, and the pilot project is flexible, so “we will be learning as we go,” she said.
The initial thought was that if there was service provided to Colfax, for example, that the bus would go to a central meeting place, then the people who wanted a bus ride would come to the central meeting place, Fischer said.
Witt pointed out that many people who need the ride service may not drive at all and would not be able to get to a centralized meeting place, she said.
By people calling in advance for a bus ride, then a plan can be made to do a door stop at the residence and bring the person to Menomonie, Fischer said.
The plan will require people to sign up in advance. If no one signs up, then the bus will not be sent out, so there will not be the expense of the bus going out, sitting in a parking lot somewhere waiting, but no one shows up for a ride, she said.
The ADRC will be responsible for communicating and marketing the program, Fischer said.
“I think it has the potential to be really useful so we are excited about that,” she said.
Marketing
Dave Bartlett, who formerly served as the Dunn County Board chair and is currently a member of the ADRC Advisory Committee, asked about the ADRC’s plans for marketing the rural bus service.
The rural bus service will be advertised in the Colfax Messenger, the ADRC newsletter, and communications will be sent out to those who use the nutrition program and Meals on Wheels, Fischer said.
In northern Dunn County, the school districts are in Barron County, and many people do not get the Boyceville newspaper [Tribune Press Reporter], said Bartlett, who is a resident of the Town of Sheridan and is chair of the Sheridan Town Board.
The Hay River Review is a monthly publication that many people in northern Dunn County read, especially in the Ridgeland and Prairie Farm area and also in the Sand Creek area, he said.
A rural bus service was tried years ago, but it did not work out very well, Bartlett said, because in his opinion, “people did not know about it.”
If anyone has any ideas about how to connect with rural communities, Fischer said she would love to hear their ideas.
Fischer said she plans to contact the “What’s Happening In …” groups on Facebook as well.
There is an e-mail group in northern Dunn County, Bartlett noted, adding that contacting churches would help too.
Fischer said she has put announcements in church bulletins in the past and that it has been helpful.
“I am open to any marketing ideas,” she said.
“I would rather have the money going into the service rather than into the marketing,” Fischer added.
Anyone with ideas about how to market the rural bus service can contact the ADRC by e-mail message at adrc@co.dunn.wi.us.
“It takes time to get the word out,” Fischer said.
Time to grow
Since the pilot project is three years, from 2025 to 2028, “we want to give the rural bus service time to grow,” Fischer said.
The way it is designed is that the buses will not be going out and waiting for passengers but rather will go if people have scheduled a ride, she reiterated.
The service could start as early as January of 2025 or as soon as a few logistical issues are worked out, Fischer said.
The information could be shared at all of the Stepping Stone pop-up food pantries, too, said Chris Olson, a member of the ADRC Advisory Committee.
Flyers could be printed to put in the food bags, Fischer said, noting that she would keep a list of where the information can be distributed.
The list can grow over time, so that even if someone has an idea in June, that person can let me know of a marketing opportunity, Fischer said.
Bulletin boards at Mayo Clinic locations and at stores such as Walmart could also be part of the marketing, said Sheila Stori, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the ADRC Advisory Committee.
Transportation committee
At a meeting of the ADRC Transportation Committee held prior to the ADRC Advisory Committee meeting on November 18, Witt talked about some of his plans for the rural bus service.
If three or four riders called from the Tainter Lake area, Colfax and Sand Creek, for example, they would be picked up between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., taken to Menomonie, and then they would be brought home early in the afternoon, he said.
If no one calls for a bus ride, then the bus will not go out for that quadrant of the county on that day, Witt said.
The ADRC has funds available for volunteer drivers, but if there are no volunteers to offer rides, then the money could be put toward the bus service for rural areas, he said.
The ADRC had $12,000 allocated for volunteer drivers last year, and the budget has been cut to $6,000 this year, Fischer said.
Rural bus transportation is part of the ADRC’s Three Year Aging Program. At first the rides will be free, although the rides may be offered at a shared cost later on, she said.
