Bloomington bus schedule aims to stop late-night bus service this month, add Uber/Lyft

Bloomington resident Noel Caffey sat at one of the benches at the downtown transit hub late Friday waiting for a bus to take him back home.

Caffey works at Cracker Barrel. The restaurant closes at 10 p.m., but he said by the time he and his coworkers finish cleaning, he may not get to leave until after 11 p.m.

“We depend on the bus to get home,” he said.

However, beginning next month, Caffey won't be able to ride the bus home anymore, as a driver shortage and low ridership numbers are prompting Bloomington Transit to stop most late-night bus routes.

Bloomington plans to stop running most city buses two hours early, around 9 p.m., starting next month. Instead, would-be riders will be able to call an Uber or Lyft at the city’s expense.

While transit officials hope the move, a pilot program to last at least six months, will reduce driver burnout and overtime pay, some local riders said the switch would make it more difficult to get to or from work and may reduce other trips they take to run errands or visit friends.

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Eliminating late-night bus routes

Buses usually leave the bus terminal, at Third and Walnut streets, for the last time at 11:10 p.m., before bus service is paused until around 7 a.m. the following morning. Under the new schedule, the last buses would leave the terminal at 9:10 p.m. Riders would still be able to hop on at subsequent stops, but they would be able to ride only to the route’s final destination — not back to the terminal.

How much will bus riders pay for ride-share?

Late evening bus users will be able to call a ride-sharing service and pay on the services' apps with a discount code. The riders would have to pay the first dollar, with the city picking up the next $19. Riders would have to pay any amount over $20. Riders who are outside the coverage area of the bus routes will not be able to use the city's discount code.

People who do not have a smartphone can call the bus service’s main line, 812-336-7443, and have a dispatcher call a ride-sharing service.

The changes would apply to all routes except 6 and 9, which cover the campus of Indiana University.

Transit officials said the switch will happen next month, though an exact date has yet to be determined.

Few drivers, some routes canceled

Bloomington Transit General Manager John Connell said a continued bus driver shortage and low ridership are two reasons why the agency is making the changes.

New hourly wages of $19.02 went into effect in January, but the service still needs about 10 additional drivers, meaning many bus operators are working mandatory overtime, Connell said.

That can get frustrating, especially on the late-night routes, which often carry fewer than five passengers per hour, he said.

Connell said providing the service that late with so few passengers also makes little economic sense. Running a bus costs about $78 per hour, which means the city is incurring a cost of between $16 and $26 per rider if three to five riders use the service.

At the same time, Connell said he knows some people rely on the service, and he believes the Uber/Lyft option should offer an adequate alternative.

Drivers are guaranteed to work at least 37 hours a week, but Bloomington bus driver Jesse Merritt said drivers regularly work 10 hours more.

Some drivers may finish a shift at 11:30 p.m. only to find out they’re working a 5 a.m. shift the next morning, he said.

“It can be exhausting,” Merritt said.

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The stress has pushed some older workers into early retirement and some younger workers to leave for other transit departments, which makes life even more difficult for the drivers who remain, he said.

The transit service has been forced to stop some routes on short notice when a driver calls in sick.

Merritt, who has worked with the transit service since 2018, said he previously wondered whether late-night service with few riders makes sense for the community, but now that it’s increasing driver frustration, he said he believes it makes sense to try to cut it.

'We depend on the bus'

Some late night bus riders said last week they worry the switch may sometimes leave them stranded.

Caffey, 48, moved here from Chicago eight months ago because he has family in Bloomington. He said he usually sees fewer than 10 people on the bus late at night, but has seen as many as 20.

He suggested the transit service give raises to the drivers or even raise the bus fare.

A few feet away, Shane Terrell was waiting for a different bus. He sat on a bench as his dog, a mountain cur named Pretty Pearl, sat by his side.

Terrell, 39, said if the transit service stops late-night buses, he simply wouldn’t take as many trips downtown, even though that likely means he sees his friends less often.

“I’d come to town less frequently,” he said. “Only if I absolutely needed to.”

Crystal Blankenship, who sat next to Terrell, said she does not drive and she, too, relies on the bus service to run errands. She said she probably would take up the city’s offer to pay for a ride-sharing service.

The riders also worried they may encounter times when no drivers are available when they’re needed.

Transit officials share that concern, Connell acknowledged, and will keep an eye on Uber/Lyft availability. He said representatives of both services said they would communicate to their drivers that they can expect additional business late in the evening.

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The city initially planned to make the switch this month, but announced on May 2 it would push it to June.

Connell said the department hopes to begin the new service in early June but has refrained from announcing a specific date because of an "unexpected delay" related to a legal review. He said Fort Wayne-based law firm Rothberg Logan & Warsco is reviewing the contracts the department is signing with the ride sharing companies.

"We're real close," Connell said.

At the latest, he said, the new service would be implemented the last week of June.

Connell said the department plans to collect six months' worth of data before analyzing how to proceed. If the switch produces an unexpected and outsized boost of late-night riders, it could signal that the community has a need for such a service. Connell said that could prompt the department to consider offering an in-house micro transit program.

Boris Ladwig is the city government reporter for The Herald-Times. Contact him at bladwig@heraldt.com.