Is Homer ready for mass transportation?

• Community gets serious about a public bus system
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
A woman on Social Security recently paid $130 for a taxi home from a doctor’s appointment in Soldotna. That represents quite a chunk on a limited income.
“This is pretty bad. We’re affecting people’s lives by looking the other way when we see these difficulties,” Bob Crosby told a group of professionals who gathered last week to brainstorm a way to get public transit going in Homer. Crosby serves as the Ninilchik Traditional Council’s Indian Housing Program director.
Joyanna Geisler, executive director of the Independent Living Center, said some 125 people receive transportation vouchers to help them get around town — including to doctor’s appointments and other places. She called the voucher system, “limited and costly,” with Anchor Point residents paying $40 for a taxi trip to Homer. Nearly half of that is covered by the voucher, with the remainder paid out-of-pocket.
A public transportation system would need to stretch from Fritz Creek to Anchor Point to help clients access Homer for their services. The group also plans for two-or-three times a week trips to Ninilchik as well.
For just over $100,000, LSC Transportation Consultants Inc., has been preparing reports for the towns of Homer and Seward, as well as for the central Kenai Peninsula. David Krutsinger, a transportation planner, was in Homer on Wednesday to conduct public meetings; first with health providers, taxi owners and other professionals, and later with the general public.
The money for the study was obtained from the Central Area Rural Transportation Services, which is a transportation brokerage for the communities of Kenai, Soldotna, Sterling, Nikiski and Kasilof. Transportation brokerages have caught on in rural areas of the United States, and this approach seems to fit rural Alaska as well. CARTS is expected to be a model for the rest of Alaska.
Under LSC Transportation’s guidance, Seward is further along with its plans for a bus that would operate in the summer months, getting tourists and residents around town. They are paying for their operation with cruise tax money funneled to the City of Seward from the state.
A bus service is a long way down the road for Homer, but what it would take to develop is getting spelled out in specifics.
“In mid-May I will have the write-up to present that will outline the details more,” Krutsinger said. He will map out routes, timing and trip amounts for a five-day service, as well as cost estimates.
Krutsinger has worked to help get public transit started in communities in upper Wisconsin, Montana and Arkansas.
“In northern Wisconsin, it’s a similar situation,” Krutsinger explained. “You have existing senior programs and existing human service providers, and they are working to put together services.”
The bus system his report spells out has multiple users and will serve the general population as well.
According to Krutsinger’s research, it will cost about $147,000 a year to operate for Homer and about $75,000 to provide a route extending to Anchor Point. Upfront costs are $400,000, with about half needing to be raised as a local match for federal funding. A government or tribal agency needs to be the “champion” in order to leverage federal funding, Krutsinger said. On the board, he listed entities that should be approached for backing, including the City of Homer and the Kenai Peninsula Borough, as well as the State.
One of the obstacles to overcome is getting potential riders to hub areas where they can board a bus. Public Heath Nurse Judy Dean said the clients she serves often live in remote places. A voucher system utilizing taxis to get people to the hub area would be less expensive in the long run, than getting them round-trip to Homer from the North Fork Road, she pointed out.
And Krutsinger said the process is not as simple as just purchasing a bus like the People Mover in Anchorage. Homer Seniors, school buses, the Homer Stage Line and taxi companies provide a patchwork of transportation options and are used to help envision what a new system might look like. He envisions a van with a wheelchair lift as one of the upfront purchases.
School buses could provide some options, since those are leased out by the hour. The route back from Chapman School in Anchor Point returns empty each night to Homer. That would be one opportunity to pick up riders, a representative from First Student told the group.
The consultant asked the group if they feel it would be worthwhile to have a route down to the Homer Spit. Four months of the year would be good, he was told, because then those who work on the Spit, as well as tourists, would be able to ride.
Fare prices alone wouldn’t be enough to cover more than fuel, some concluded. Also, there may need to be a reservation system at first for points along the route in order to access the people wanting to ride. And it will take several years of operation to accumulate riders and to fine-tune reliable time arrivals.
“Now we need to get to the money question,” Krutsinger said. “Are we dreaming, or are we structuring something we can get to?”
Geisler said she believes it’s possible.
“If there is community support from various providers, as well as the city and borough, we could probably increase transportation options for folks in the Homer area,” she said. “My personal goal is to use as much public enterprise as we can; a patchwork of cabs and expanding the voucher program we have now. Taxis do well at the ‘demand jobs,’ where a person knows they need to go at 5 p.m. on Friday and can arrange that in advance. Cab companies are really good at that. So now we need to make those rides affordable.”
Taxi owners were present at the meeting as well, agreeing they would like to be part of any public transportation system put in place.
Additional Homer and Anchor Point residents likely would opt to take the bus, leaving their cars at home, if that were a choice, members of the group said.
“One thing that would help is if we can capitalize on the sustainability piece,” Geisler said. “There’s really a niche for that in Homer. We would be smart to pick up momentum on that.”
The next meetings regarding public transportation issues will be May 26. Service providers meet from 1-3 p.m. at the Kachemak Bay Campus, with another public meeting held from 5-7 p.m. Krutsinger said the public portion this past week was not well-attended. He wants the word to get out so that his plan can incorporate thoughts from the general public.