Chief Operating Officer Maurice Bell and Javier Trilla, innovation and information technology vice president, delivered a presentation to the board of directors during an Aug. 24 meeting. The presentation included a detailed look at performance indicators and information on renewing the transportation authority’s contract with Via for the service.
What happened
The service saw a 32% growth in rides between the second quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023, according to the presentation. Ridership in Denton peaked at 55,000 riders in May 2023.In Lewisville, the service reported 21,000 riders in May, June and July.
“Lewisville is probably one of the most unique because we see some real good numbers and it continues to maintain its steady peak,” Bell said.Highland Village ridership has more than doubled in 2023 with 938 riders reported in July.Also of note
GoZone’s seat unavailability rate was reported at about 7% in July, about 10% below the goal of 17.5%. The service’s average wait time peaked at 25 minutes in March 2022 and September 2022 but has since stayed below the 24-minute goal, according to the presentation.
The framework
The contract for a third year of services will be similar to the current year, Bell said. The contract assumes about 234,895 hours of van service, according to the presentation. At about $42.11 per hour, operations are expected to cost more than $9.8 million.
The customer service portion of the contract is broken into two six-month periods, which gives staff the flexibility to monitor and look at other ways of providing customer service, Bell said.
“We definitely want to enhance this piece,” Bell said. “We recognize that it is something that our ridership is paying attention to, and we want to be able to deliver a better customer service side of things.”
The contract, which is already budgeted for in the 2023-24 operating and capital budget, could cost about $10.4 million in total. The board is expected to consider renewing the contract during its Sept. 28 meeting.
