16 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER February 2022
SMART ridership sees uptick but challenges remain
BY COREY BUCHANAN
After cratering at the onset of the pandemic , South Metro Area Regional Transit ’ s ridership figures have trended upward in recent months . Operational efficiency , however , continues to be a challenge .
While ridership totals fell well below 8,000 in April 2020 , use of the Wilsonville transit agency ’ s buses has steadily climbed since then . In October it reached its zenith since the start of the pandemic , totaling 13,751 riders . That was up over 3,000 from August .
Transit Director Dwight Brashear said he rides SMART buses every day to work and has noticed people are following the mask-wearing rule and seem to feel comfortable riding . He said the start of the school year and new WiFi on buses may have helped increase ridership as well . The agency also recently implemented a pilot project allowing buses to use the I-5 shoulder on the route to Tualatin , and Brashear thought that might have sparked some people ’ s interest .
“ We provide a very high quality of service here . I think that ’ s bringing people back . They remember what it ’ s like to ride on a SMART bus ,” Brashear said .
Still , ridership on the buses , which travel across Wilsonville and to Tualatin , Canby and Salem , is far below prepandemic levels that hovered between 23,000 and 28,000 per month . And this has led to a less efficient transit system in terms of dollars and cents . While the average ride cost the agency $ 14.90 in the 2018-19 year , that ballooned to
South Metro Area Regional Transit saw more riders using its buses in late 2021 .
$ 44.69 per ride in 2020-21 . Meanwhile , many TriMet routes hover between $ 5 and $ 12 per ride . SMART is paid for in large part via payroll taxes .
Brashear said the uptick underscores the pandemic ’ s impact , adding that operating costs per service hour is a preferred metric for the agency . That number has also gone up from $ 106.35 in 2018-19 to an estimated $ 133 per hour in 2020-21 .
Brashear noted that unlike SMART , TriMet charges for rides . TriMet also
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has had more financial challenges in recent years and Brashear said its operating costs per service hour are higher than SMART .
“ I feel very good because , as I mentioned , we operate in the black . At the end of the day when we put services out there , we ’ re operating very efficiently ,” Brashear said .
TriMet , which serves much of the Portland metro area , has had a similar ridership curve as SMART . The agency ’ s passenger tally dipped from 1.9 million rides per week in March of 2020 to 598,000 in April of that year . Since then , passenger totals have crept back up to 932,000 per week in November . However , the WES commuter train , which is run by TriMet and connects Wilsonville with Beaverton and other cities , continues to struggle to attract riders . According to TriMet data , the route cost the agency $ 85.38 per ride in October .
Brashear said running a commuter rail from one suburb to another creates inherent challenges and he hoped projects to add housing density near the transit stations , such as the city of Wilsonville ’ s project to build affordable housing at the Wilsonville Transit Center , would help . He also liked the idea of extending the route into Portland and Salem .
“ Looking at those two areas would certainly improve ridership on the WES train considerably ,” he said .
Brashear mentioned that supply chain challenges have impacted SMART to some extent . The agency will have to use older buses for a longer period of time as it waits for new compressed natural gas vehicles to arrive , he said .
At the same time , he said the agency is down a couple drivers due to the labor shortage . TriMet recently cut back services for this reason , but SMART has not .
“ For a small agency ( the shortage is ) serious , but it ’ s not to the point that we ’ re reducing service or missing trips . We ’ re just going to be hiring ,” he said .
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