SPRINGDALE -- The city would benefit from more public transportation, participants said at a pair of public meetings this week.
"For our clients and people, (public transportation) makes a great big impact," said Byron Morgan, director of operations for Arkansas Support Network, which provides services for individuals with developmental disabilities. "A good number of people we provide services to don't drive and they still need to get to the store or go to the ballgame or get to the Christmas parade. They need services most of us take for granted."
Take the survey
To fill out and submit the public transportation survey, visit www.springdalear.go… and click the link under the “Questionnaire” heading.
Those who have an impairment that prevents them from filling out the survey can submit their opinions on public transportation by phone to Public Relations Director Melissa Reeves, whose office phone number is 479-756-7733.
Source: Staff report
Morgan was one of several people who attended Thursday's public transportation input meeting at the City Administration Building. The first meeting was Tuesday at the same location.
Mayor Doug Sprouse and Alderman Kathy Jaycox attended the first meeting and Aldermen Jim Reed and Mike Lawson attended the second. More than a dozen people attended the second meeting.
Layza Lopez-Love, a Los Angeles native who works at Community Clinic in Springdale, attended Tuesday's meeting. Lopez-Love said she has not used public transportation in Springdale, not for lack of desire, but because of lack of availability. She frequently rode the bus in Los Angeles, and if she could improve anything about Springdale public transportation, it would be expanding the frequency of bus routes.
"I often hear from other people who use the bus that it runs so infrequently that they are often waiting outside," Lopez-Love said.
Ozark Regional Transit Authority is the only bus service that operates in Springdale.
The bus service operates in Washington, Benton, Madison and Carroll counties. Ozark Regional has five routes in Springdale, plus a bus stop on the 490 express route, which runs between the University of Arkansas to Northwest Arkansas Community College's Bentonville campus, said Jeff Hatley, public information officer for Ozark Regional. The express route also makes stop at the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville and at the community college's Springdale site.
Joel Gardner, Ozark Regional's executive director, said more funding is needed for more routes in Springdale.
"It has to come from the city directly or a dedicated funding source that's voted in by the citizens," Gardner said at Thursday's meeting. "We hope to have a study commissioned by the Regional Planning Commission in the first quarter of 2017 that will identify the growth and development options for Northwest Arkansas as a whole and how it will be funded."
Gardner said he is aware of Springdale's need for more bus routes.
"Frequency of service is one of the things that helps, and making sure the routes go where people want them to go is another thing that helps," Gardner said. "As Springdale continues to grow, I can see us doing more frequency in more areas that need service."
Ozark Regional's fixed route system transported 72,110 people in Springdale from January to the end of October. Gardner noted there are times that there is standing-room-only on a bus.
Brian Stephens, employment and training center manager for George's, attended Thursday's meeting and said his company's employees rely on public transportation.
"There's limited routes and many of them don't live near the route; that's very common," Stephens said. "We've had people actually move to apartments that are closer to a route."
The more routes there are, the more people will use them, Stephens said.
Gardner said an area that would benefit from routes is just west of Interstate 49 for Arvest Ballpark, Arkansas Children's Hospital, which is set to open January 2018, and a proposed NWACC campus.
Leo Orpin, the owner of cidery Black Apple Crossing, in downtown Springdale, said during Tuesday's meeting that he wants to see more public transportation come through downtown.
"I came because I think we can use alternate forms for pedestrian traffic downtown, which I think would help my business," Orpin said. "I would like to see an increased pedestrian traffic (downtown), and public transportation is going to promote that."
Three different bus routes go through downtown Springdale about once an hour, Hatley said.
Gardner wants to expand service in all four major downtowns in Northwest Arkansas.
Two taxi cab services, Dynasty Taxi and NWA Taxi, operate in Springdale.
Tim and Melissa Reynolds bought Dynasty Taxi in January. Dynasty is the only Springdale-based taxi service, serving approximately 375 passengers a month in Springdale, 83 percent of which are picked up within 30 minutes of calling and 35 percent within 15 minutes of calling, according to Tim Reynolds.
"We doubled our staff in the daytime because we have that many calls," he said. "I think we are covered pretty well as far as the population goes."
NW News on 12/02/2016