Manatee County transit saw an increase in ridership on this route. But it will now run less frequently

When Manatee County Area Transit increased frequency on the route servicing Manatee Avenue, Bradenton resident John Beevers got rid of his car. The 62-year-old rides the bus at least twice a day now.

“It’s indispensable for me because I use it every day, at least twice, sometimes three times a day,” Beevers said as he waited for the bus at the Downtown Bradenton bus station Thursday afternoon.

More riders started using Route 3, which runs between Manatee County Public Beach on Anna Maria Island and Walmart on State Road 64, once the frequency increased last November. In January, there was a 15 percent improvement in the Route 3 ridership.

But less than six months after Route 3 was changed to 30-minute frequency, it will return to the previous 60-minute frequency on May 6 due to a shortage of bus drivers.

“That’s the only system change,” said Chad Butzow, deputy director in the county’s public works department. “We think this will get us through at the moment. We really thought this was the best choice, keeping the customer in mind.”

Describing the reduction in service on Route 3 as “ludicrous,” Beevers said the county should be making more routes run more frequently rather than reducing them.

“That would be ludicrous to get rid of that every 30 minutes,” he said. “It has made everything manageable and smooth. It would be insanity to take it back.”

While MCAT is rarely fully staffed, the turnover rate this spring was higher than normal, Butzow said. As of Thursday, MCAT had six vacancies, in addition to the operators who have been recently hired but not yet trained.

“The temporary Route 3 service modification relieves the pressure on the operations workforce who are working extra shifts each week,” Jim Egbert, the county’s transit operations chief, said in a news release. “This extreme level of effort is simply not sustainable and compromises the health and well being of hard working transit bus operators.”

While it is unknown when the Route 3 will return to more frequent operations, county staff will be monitoring the situation weekly, according to Butzow.

“We want to make sure we are in a sustainable position,” he said. “You want to be able to know you are over the hump.”

Despite serving one of the main corridors in Manatee County, Route 3 was selected since additional cuts to other routes could have meant stopping service entirely for the route, Butzow said.

“It doesn’t leave them without service,” he said. “That’s why we chose this first.”

Bradenton resident Sylvestre Ekpo, 34, rides the Route 3 daily. As Ekpo prepared to board the Route 3 eastbound bus Thursday afternoon, he said it would affect a lot of people who take it.

“I don’t take it to go to work, but people who take it to work may be affected,” he said.

On May 10, Manatee County will have a hiring expo where there will be recruitment for bus operators among other available county positions. The expo will be from 2-7 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

“You have the opportunity to be interviewed right there,” Butzow said. “There’s every bit of interest to move as fast as possible.”

The temporary Manatee Avenue route change helps MCAT avoid unexpected delays to other routes or missed Handy Bus/paratransit trips, according to the release.

“It is most important to relieve the current stress on our workforce and ensure that new transit bus operators are fully capable of completing any work assignment on transit, trolley or paratransit operating modes,” William Steele, the county’s transit division manager, said in the release.

When Beevers made the decision to trade his car for the bus last fall, he said he was tired of paying for the gas and insurance.

“I’m not stressed out like I was with traffic,” he said. “You are going backwards. You’re not going forward. You are saying to the people, ‘Hey, we don’t want to grow. We just want more congestion with our traffic.’ That’s basically what you are saying.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 2:04 PM with the headline "Manatee County transit saw an increase in ridership on this route. But it will now run less frequently."