A public hearing on proposed updates to the CitiBus system is among the three things to know on this City Council cycle.
Also on the agenda for Wednesday’s Committee of the whole are accepting the work to remove River Drive medians for better flood-fighting as well as approving the contract for resurfacing Duck Creek trail from Division to Marquette Street. To view the Committee of the Whole agenda, go here.
Proposed changes to CitiBus include reducing Saturday bus fares to $.50, improvements to Saturday service connections, offering on-demand Sunday service and eliminating regular route service on Sundays. Sunday ridership is about 350-400 per day compared to 2,100 rides per day during the week and 1,000 rides per day on Saturday.
On-demand Sunday service would be available to riders with a 30-day pass traveling to employment. A survey of Sunday CitiBus riders, 25 percent used transit to get to work and that 60 percent were pass holders.
A study of other similar-sized cities showed that a majority didn’t offer Sunday service. Those cities that did often had major universities that drive higher weekend ridership.
The City could expand its partnership with River Bend Transit for Sunday service to get people to work and would allow better access to Bettendorf where there is no Sunday transit service.
Another update would be to run the Route 4 bus on 30-minute service to improve connections while reducing Saturday fares would encourage higher ridership.
The cost to remove the River Drive medians and replace them with composite paving also included removing an abandoned utility pit. The project cost $22,944.
The Duck Creek trail resurfacing contract will be awarded to Manatts Inc. – Eastern Iowa Division, from Comanche for $152,217. Work in the contract includes resurfacing, joint repair, sidewalk/ADA ramp improvements, grading and seeding.