To the Editor:
As the director of the Westport Transit District, which operates the Wheels2U door-to-train shuttle service, I’m writing to comment on Jennifer Johnson’s March 29 letter regarding the Wheels2U service.
As Ms. Johnson says, you keep hearing about Wheels2U being cheap, convenient and green. And the reason you do is precisely because the Wheels2U service is, in fact, cheap, convenient and green.
The cost of a ride to a commuter on Wheels2U is cheap; the fare is only $2. True, that is not the total cost; Westport’s share is currently a bit less than $16 a ride and that cost will decrease as ridership increases. The State of Connecticut also contributes approximately $32 per ride. That cost, too, will decrease as ridership increases. This is significantly less than the $92 cost per ride cited by Ms. Johnson.
Wheels2U is indisputably convenient. You order a ride on an easy to use app on your phone. The shuttle then picks you up at your door and drops you off right at the train platform. The average time between ordering a ride and being picked up is currently 7.5 minutes. No need to worry about having exact fare; the ride is automatically charged to your credit card.
As for being green, well, that is a bit of a work in progress. It must be remembered that Wheels2U only began operations in October 2020, during the COVID pandemic when commuting, indeed, going anywhere, was rare. Even in the current fiscal year beginning July 1, 2021, when ridership began to increase, we were slammed first with the Delta variant and then the Omicron variant, both of which seriously affected commuting and ridership.
Even so, the Wheels2U minibuses are currently averaging more than 100 rides a day and are carrying more than one passenger at a time about 16 percent of the time on average. This aggregation rate varies widely depending on the time of day and day of the week.
For example, more people commute on Tuesdays and Wednesdays than on Fridays. On those days, Wheels2U’s minibuses carry more than one passenger about 25 percent of the time. Similarly, more people commute between 6 and 7 p.m., when the buses carry more than one passenger about 25 percent of the time, than at 5 p.m. Once again, as ridership levels increase as people begin to go back to work, the number of daily rides and these percentages will go up.
As for being efficient, the Wheels2U shuttles only go when they are called for. Unlike the old fixed route system Westport used to have, the shuttles do not drive around a route continuously looking for passengers.
The Wheels2U minibuses themselves accommodate two wheelchairs as well as eight passengers and are hardly oversize vehicles. Further, Norwalk Transit District, which provides the Wheels2U vehicles, has been told by the state that it is third in line in the state (after Hartford and Waterbury) for full electric bus service.
Ms. Johnson is correct that every day thousands of people come to Westport to work. Here again, Wheels2U does its part. It regularly takes riders who commute on Metro-North from Westport’s two train stations to their jobs in Westport. Should the town desire it, Wheels2U can also provide rides to and from places on the Post Road to help those who commute on the Coastal Link bus reach their jobs.
For that matter, should the town desire it, the Westport Transit District, in connection with the Norwalk Transit District, can provide service from Westport to anywhere in Norwalk, Wilton, or Weston. The Westport Transit District already provides door-to-door transportation to and from anywhere in Westport to anyplace else in Westport for seniors and residents with a disability.
The flexibility provided by Wheels2U’s door-to-train platform service also has tangible and significant benefits in connection with Westport’s diversity and inclusion goals. With hundreds of new apartments under development on Hiawatha Lane Extension and near downtown, Wheels2U’s flexible transportation option will be important in the near future. It is likely that over the next 18 to 24 months many new residents of more affordable apartments currently under development will lack their own cars or a second car just for commuting. It will benefit our community greatly to have a flexible public transportation system in place to meet their needs.
While Ms. Johnson is correct in much of what she has to say about the need to explore regionalization of transit services, that is a red herring when it comes to discussing the merits of Wheels2U. Even if the Westport Transit District were to be merged into the Norwalk Transit District, there would still be a need for Wheels2U’s service to get commuters to and from the train stations. Further, the cost of the service to Westport would likely increase in such a case. Still, her idea has merit and should, and will, be explored further.
As for extending routes beyond Westport, the main east-west route in our part of southwestern Connecticut is the Post Road. Service is already provided on the Post Road via the Coastal Link, operated not by the Westport Transit District but, rather, by the Norwalk, Bridgeport and Milford transit districts. Merging the Westport Transit District into any of these other districts would have no effect on the operation of the Coastal Link service.
The Westport Transit District also already provides town-to-town services for people with a disability over and above those required by the Americans With a Disability Act. We will take people with a disability anywhere between Westport and Greenwich and are working on extending this service to enable these people to go to their doctors in Fairfield and Bridgeport as well. To the best of my knowledge, none of the other transit districts in southwestern Connecticut provide a similar service.
I’m glad to know that Ms. Johnson does not advocate for ending the funding for Wheels2U in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, the Board of Finance cut that budget in half at its meeting the other night, leaving just enough funds to continue Wheels2U’s operations through this coming December albeit with a promise to restore the funds with a supplemental appropriation if the town can come up with an approach to transit that the board approves of. Hopefully Ms. Johnson will speak in favor of restoring those funds when the Representative Town Meeting takes up the Transit District’s budget at its May 2 meeting.
Peter Gold
Director, Westport Transit District
Whether Wheels2U costs taxpayers $92 a single one-way ride (based on numbers from Mr. Gold’s presentation) or $48 a ride, as Mr Gold now asserts, it is still a significant sum, especially if you consider the round trip cost. In any event, the main point of my letter to the editor yesterday was that Westport should stop subsidizing a $1 million dollar Uber-substitute focused solely on Westport.
We don’t live in a bubble, so we shouldn’t spend so much time and money on a service that reflects a bubble. Instead, Westport should redirect the $1 million in public funding into a system that takes people who visit, live or work here where they need to go. To start, Westport should terminate the Westport Transit District (overseen by the RTM and volunteers) and consolidate with adjoining legitimate transit districts.
Accuracy and facts do matter
I agree with Mr. McCarthy that accuracy and facts matter. And because I agree with him, I went back and checked all the written presentations I made to the Board of Finance and the RTM in the past several months. In none of those PowerPoint presentations can I find any support for Ms. Johnson’s $92 figure or even anything close to it. Nor do I have any recollection of stating such a figure orally in any of those presentations. I would appreciate it if Ms. Johnson would let me know where she says I gave the $92 cost so I can clear up any inaccuracies or misconceptions.
As for Wheels2U being focused on Westport, the Westport Transit District would be more than happy to extend Wheels2U’s service, or even a fixed route service, to locations outside of Westport not already served by the Coastal Link if the Town agrees to pay the cost of providing that extended service. I would be interested in seeing any data Ms. Johnson may have that shows a need for such services so I may begin to plan for them. Further, even if there is a demonstrated need for such services, that does not diminish the already demonstrated need for the existing Wheels2U shuttle service to Westport’s two train stations. As of this evening, Wheels2U provided over 2,200 rides in March alone between the train stations and locations in Westport.
Though she avoids saying it, Ms Johnson implies that the $1 million for Westport public transit is all a local taxpayer expense. It is not, because it includes Federal and State support, as do all transit systems.
If there is any bubble to be popped, it is the notion that wishing for better regional solutions will make it happen. Ms Johnson should focus her energy on what she perceives as the right way without compromising the commuter, handicap, and senior services that Westport Transit currently provides.
And to say that we should merge with neighboring legitimate districts suggests that the Westport Transit District is not legitimate. Not a helpful statement.
Accuracy and facts do matter. The $92/per one-way ride comes from Mr. Gold’s recent presentation to the Board of Finance: his chart (page 35) reflects $343,200 in funds from Westport and $620,900 in funds from the state of Connecticut. That comes to $964,100. According to Mr. Gold’s recent presentation (page 24), there were a total of 10,482 rides this past fiscal year. If you do the math, according to Mr. Gold’s numbers, that comes to $91.97 per ride.
For that kind of money, Westport riders, including ADA and seniors, should have a lot more options than just Wheels2U. It simply does not make sense to pump so much money and effort into repeating the WTD model that Mr. Gold and Mr Lowenstien so passionately defend.
Our community, including ADA riders deserve better transit service and options. Nothing can change until the WTD recognizes that a one-off transit district with no employees, and run by the RTM is a model that no longer works for Westport.
I’m glad we all agree that accuracy and facts matter. So let me correct Ms. Johnson’s latest misstatements and set the record straight.
In determining her purported $92 cost per ride for Wheels2U Ms. Johnson took the Westport Transit District’s requested budget for all of its services, including funds for the town-to-town service we provide for people with a disability as well as funds for the door-to-door in-town service we provide for the elderly and people with a disability, for the full 12 months of the next fiscal year (the period beginning July1 , 2022 and ending June 30, 2023) and divided it by the actual number of Wheels 2U rides for only the first eight months of the current fiscal year (the period beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2022). Hardly an accurate or fair way to determine Wheels2U’s cost per ride.
The actual cost per ride for Wheels2U for the period from July 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023 (the most recent period for which complete data is available) is only $15.44 to Westport (the $155,936 the Westport Transit District actually paid for that service divided by the 10,096 rides). The state provided an additional $358,572 for a total cost to the taxpayers of $514,508. When divided by the 10,096 rides that comes out to a cost per ride of only $50.92. (The $48.00 per ride in my earlier comment was based on estimated costs and State reimbursements for February; actual data is now available.) I will be happy to share the Transit District’s financial reports at a mutually convenient time with Ms. Johnson or anyone else who may care to examine them.
The cost per ride will decrease as ridership increases. In February there were 1,564 rides on Wheels2U, the highest number to date up to that point. In March, there were 2,220 rides on Wheels2U. I am confident that when the financial data for March is available in early May, it will show a decrease in the cost per ride for Wheels2U from the $50.92 amount above.
Ms. Johnson is also incorrect, or at least seriously misleading, in her assertion that the Westport Transit District is “run” by the RTM. While it is true that the RTM, as the Town’s funding body, has oversight over the Transit District’s budget, just as it has over the Town’s budget for Police, Fire, Public Works and all the other services the Town provides, the RTM has no day to day involvement with the Transit District or its operations. Further, while the Transit District’s Directors are appointed by the RTM, the RTM also appoints trustees to the Library’s Board of Trustees and no one seriously takes the position that the Library is “run” by the RTM.