Hartford just got bus service. Yay, mass transit! Hartford City Administrator Teresa Sidel tells me that Hartford residents can ride a new (well, new to Hartford!) ten-seater bus around town three days a week (MWF), courtesy of Hartford Area Transit (what fun! "Ride the HAT to the store!" Or, on snowy, windy days, "Careful, Harold! Don't tip your HAT!"). Once a week (Tuesdays for now!), Hartfordians will be able to ride the HAT to Sioux Falls. (Sidel did not indicate whether one can bring one's cat.) Rides will be $2 one way in town and $8 for the big Sioux Falls round trip. Bus fare is optional for folks 60 and older. Sidel says riders can call 906-1483 for service.
The way Perry Groten (KELO's subtle gadfly) writes it, mass transit is making its way up Highway 38 thanks to the AARP and no thanks to Pierre. Groten frames the story around the efforts of 78-year-old Hartfordian Ellie Sturdevant, who, bless he heart, recognizes her limitations:
"I have no family around and eventually, I know I'm not going to be able to drive into Sioux Falls and I saw the need, I saw the need of many others in the Hartford community and it was something I thought I could give back to the community," Sturdevant said [Perry Groten, "Bringing Bus Service to Hartford," KELOLand.com, 2015.01.01].
That's the spirit, Mrs. Sturdevant! But she says that spirit was not shared in state government:
At first, Sturdevant ran into many road blocks.
"I called Pierre, the social services, and I called different places and I called places that had buses and I was getting no place," Sturdevant said [Groten, 2015.01.01].
So who got the bus rolling?
But the persistent Sturdevant didn't slow down. With the help of the City of Hartford along with area non-profit agencies and businesses, she helped secure grant money that will pay for a ten seat bus that will begin picking up passengers of all ages next week.
"This way, you can pick up the phone and call and say hey, I'd like to go to Dollar General tomorrow, or I'd like to go to the grocery store tomorrow, and so they'll come and pick you up right at your door," Sturdevant said [Groten, 2015.01.01].
Thank you, O mighty Republican regime in Pierre, for reinforcing your credo that big government can't solve problems and that local action and volunteers work best—
But hold on a minute: Ellie's efforts were essential, but Pierre and Washington both helped, According to the Hartford City Council minutes from December 16, 2014, the city arranged the grant in cooperation with the South Dakota Department of Transportation. Sidel explains that Hartford Area Transit is funded by "grants provided by South Dakota Department of Transportation through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991." SD DOT is covering 80% of the cost; the city covers the remaining 20%. Sidel says the city expects the first-year cost will be around $28,000. Thus, federal dollars will pay for $22,400 of this year's operating cost; the city will pick up the remaining $5,600. Sidel says the city has received some donations to help defray the local cost. AARP says it's chipping in, as are Sioux Valley Energy, Sanford Health, the Hartford Foundation.
Pierre saved Hartford and the feds a nice chunk of cash by finding Hartford a cheap set of wheels. Bruce Lindholm, program manager for public transit at the South Dakota Department of Transportation, explained to me that DOT tracked down a used bus—2003, Ford chassis, 80,000 miles—that the feds had funded in Clark. These small buses usually run $70K, DOT valued the used Clark bus at $4K. The federal interest in the bus remains at 80%, so the acquisition cost to Hartford was a measly $800, which it paid to Clark.
DOT offers this map of rural transit services in South Dakota. Much of the state is covered, but there are some notable exceptions, including the relatively populous I-29 corridor from Minnehaha to northern Union County. Urban Minnehaha and northern Lincoln are served by Sioux Area Metro. Also lacking rural mass transit are Pine Ridge, Harding and Perkins counties, Hanson County (can you picture Stace Nelson taking the bus to go visit friend of the blog Owen in Alexandria?), and Noem-land around Codington, Hamlin, Clark, and Kingsbury counties.
Groten reported that Mrs. Sturdevant was planning to serve coffee and rolls on yesterday's inaugural voyage. Let's also send a donut or two to Bruce Lindholm at the state Department of Transportation and the nice folks in D.C. who are footing most of the bill. Hartford Area Transit seems to be a fine example of local, state, and federal government working together to make the quality of life in rural South Dakota better.
Highmore has a similar service provided by River City Transit out of Pierre. Call for a trip around town for $1, trips to other towns for medical appointments are available on certain days and there is a daily commuter bus to Pierre and back that many people ride everyday to work. The 100 mile round trip is cheaper on the bus than it would cost to drive yourself. It gets to Pierre by 8am, leaves for Highmore by 5pm and drives around Pierre to pick up or drop off each rider at their workplace. It also makes stops at Holabird, Harrold and Blunt picking up riders on the way to Pierre. Senator Johnson was instrumental in getting the service in place Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood even came to Pierre with Sen Johnson to tour the River City Transit offices and learn how public transit is important, even in rural areas.
http://www.rcptransit.com/hyde_county_transit.htm
http://www.rcptransit.com/routes.htm
http://www.dot.gov/briefing-room/us-transportation-secretary-lahood-tours-state-good-repair-and-recovery-act
Here's the USDOT press release on Sec. Lahood's visit to Pierre.
There's a lot more public transit available in the Dakotas than people realize.
We put together a massive transit map of the eastern Dakotas for the March/April 2014 issue of Dakotafire: http://dakotafire.net/communities/eastern-dakota-transit-map/6155/ That interactive map from the SD DoT wasn't available then. But our static map helps you visualize how you could get from Point A to Point B.
Looks like the story didn't get uploaded--we were in a transition period then. But I'll see if I can get that uploaded later tonight.
Thanks for the links! That's really useful information, especially when we have debates about the car culture and auto/oil-lovers say, "But you can't ask South Dakotans to get by without cars; there's no other way to get around!" Our public transit systems don't go everywhere all the time, but they seem to be a remarkably inexpensive service... brought to us by sizable federal subsidy.
A key and important factor for the starting of the transportation system in Hartford was the support, in spirit and financially, from the citizens and businesses in Hartford.
Addressing the transportation issues in SD has been an ongoing effort for years, and remains so, especially as individuals age and/or develop disabilities.
I compliment the community of Hartford for making this happen. There is not such willingness and/or ability in other places, including Sioux Falls which probably has the largest transportation system in the state (I am including city bus, ParaTransit, taxis, bus rides provided by retirement/nursing home facilities, private paratransit businesses,) to help individuals with their transportation needs.
Why did Clark get rid of their bus? New one, or is their program no longer operating?
It's too bad here in Sioux Falls that nobody jumps in to help subsidize Paratransit services.
Joan, I honestly tried to get the ball rolling on doing that and/or assisting financially (for example bus passes, or vouchers for taxis and private businesses,) I got shot down so fast that I was shocked.
Not only was I shot down, a few people made some hostile comments towards me. Including from people who use the services. I also found out that the existing non-profits would not agree to be administrators because of the work involved.
I gave up because I knew I did not have what it takes to change the attitudes.
I lived in Hartford for 17 years so I am glad to see this service and that there is a persistent citizen in the community.
Mike Henriksen, I am pretty sure Clark got a new bus, or van, in the last year or so.
Thanks Heidi! Good to see it has worked out for them!
Here's a link to Prairie Hills Transit serving the Black Hills.
http://prairiehillstransit.com/