But the main challenge facing the agency is a severe bus driver shortage, which stems in large part from competition for workers from Amazon, agency officials said.
The service eliminations and changes are expected to take place on June 20.
“RTA has been diligently working to hire and train bus drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ruzinsky said. “Unfortunately the national hiring crisis is also impacting RTA which has led us to the difficult decision to make some temporary service changes.”
He continued, “As we are able to hire and train new drivers we will be looking to add back and, in some cases, expand services to meet community needs.”
The Greater Dayton RTA plans to eliminate bus routes 3, 5, 23, 24, X5, X1A and X1B.
Officials say they hope the eliminations will be temporary and service can be restored and expanded in the future when the agency’s workforce issues are resolved and ridership levels bounce back.
The routes temporarily being eliminated account for about 4% of the RTA’s current ridership, officials said.
The agency operates 26 routes, and the temporary reduction will impact about 11% of daily service, officials said.
Routes 3 and 5 are short trolley routes that only operate during peak times, said Brandon Policicchio, RTA’s chief customer and business development officer.
Route 3 travels between downtown and the Eastown Hub, while route 5 travels from downtown to West Stroop Road, via Far Hills Avenue.
Route 23, which only operates on weekdays, goes from the Eastown Hub to the South Hub near the Dayton Mall.
Route 24 stretches from Meijer and the Northwest Hub to the South Hub.
X5 is an express bus from downtown to the Dayton Mall, South Hub and Austin Landing area.
X1A and X1B are express buses from downtown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The routes have one trip in the morning and one in the evening.
RTA also has decided to reduce service for route 14 to every 80 minutes, and routes 11 and 34 will now have buses arrive every 90 minutes.
Currently, buses at these routes arrive every 30 to 60 minutes, during peak times.
RTA selected what routes to eliminate based on an analysis of ridership, trips, duplicative service coverage and time periods with low volumes of riders, Policicchio said.
The RTA prioritized maintaining basic geographic service coverage and late night service, he said.
But unfortunately, he said, these changes will result in additional connections and longer travel times for some customers, and riders in some areas will have to find other transportation alternatives.
But Policicchio said these changes were made to impact the fewest riders as possible.
RTA will notify customers about the upcoming changes with signage, audio announcements and staff will ride along on some impacted bus routes to speak with patrons.
“Most of the routes that are being eliminated have other options within the areas,” Policicchio said.
Most of these routes have seen declining numbers of riders, officials said, but the real issue is a lack of bus drivers that is impacting service.
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