Kokomo trolley system is sick

COVID knocks ridership down by 200,000; city looking for answers

Kokomo’s trolley system has been a rousing success since its implementation more than a decade ago, topping 400,000 riders a year. But even it couldn’t escape the effects of COVID. Now city leaders are scrambling to find answers that will restore the system to its former passenger volumes.

Tammy Corn, executive director of the Kokomo-Howard County Governmental Coordinating Council (KHCGCC), reported ridership numbers for the city’s transportation department last week. It wasn’t pretty.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, 36,607 people rode the City Line trolley. Another approximately 21,163 utilized the Spirit of Kokomo bus service. Those numbers are down 5,184 from the fourth quarter of 2020. And the entire system is down more than 200,000 riders annually from 2019.

“We know that ridership on public transit is down nationwide,” said Corn. “There are serious problems ever since COVID hit. It’s concerning, but the FTA (Federal Transit Authority) continues to fund us off of 2019 numbers. There also is some money allocated in the federal infrastructure bill that we imagine we will get. But it is something we are concerned about.”

Corn said that transit services in Kokomo have been uninterrupted during COVID. Still, the city suffered the same drops that most other communities in the U.S. have suffered. It is a different world, post-COVID, she explained.

“People’s behaviors have changed,” said Corn. “Not as many people are attending school in person; they’re going to virtual learning. That’s huge. Ivy Tech (Community College) alone was a huge volume generator for us. We’re barely taking anybody there. It’s the same with the high school. They have a lot of virtual students still.

“Also, a lot of companies have converted to virtual work. Even INDOT is only staffing their offices two days a week and rotates their people in and out.”

Corn said the transportation department and the City of Kokomo administration are uncertain what they can do to turn things around. Safety protocols and sanitization of trolleys and trolley stops have been implemented. The department double-checked its passenger reporting and found negligible discrepancies.

The department is even trying to track if mechanical breakdowns are having an impact. Thanks to supply chain issues, parts to repair the trolleys might take as long as a month to arrive. When that happened, the department was forced to use Spirit of Kokomo buses to run the trolley routes.

“We want to find out of the residents of Kokomo are seeing the Spirit buses and think that the trolleys aren’t running,” said Corn.

If breakdowns are contributing to lower ridership, there is some hope on the horizon. The Kokomo Board of Works and Public Safety approved the purchase of two new trolleys late last year. Corn said the contracts will be signed this week, and the trolleys should arrive within six months.

There are other efforts to try to improve the trolley service. Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore reported to the KHCGCC that his administration is meeting with Kokomo Director of Engineering John Pyke and engineering consultant Carey Stranahan to analyze the trolley stops and routes.

“We have received phone calls from people concerned about some trolley stops being next to ditches, which makes it harder for people with walkers or wheelchairs,” said Moore. “We’ll also be looking at the volumes at the stops. There is a possibility of some of the trolley stops being moved and adjusted.”

What the FTA does in the face of falling transit numbers is important. The city receives funding to subsidize the system, based upon a ridership formula. While there is no immediate risk of funding loss, Corn doesn’t know what will happen if the ridership remains low.

“In the long term, we don’t know if how FTA will handle it,” said Corn “Our formula grant could change because of lower passenger volume.”

In other transportation news, the city’s Central Maintenance Garage is getting three much-needed investments to support the trolley service. A new bus barn is currently under construction, and it will be followed by dedicated work bays for trolley maintenance and a wash bay for the vehicles.

The city’s previous bus barn was destroyed by fire in 2014. Since that time, the trolleys have been housed at the Kokomo Waste Water Treatment Plant. The maintenance bays and wash bay will be new additions to the department.