Counties considering joint transit

Sarah Day — Staff Writer
TRUMAN — An inter-county transit system is still a number of years out, but the wheels are spinning between Martin and Faribault counties.

Martin and Faribault County commissioners, along with a Minnesota Department of Transportation representative, met Friday to discuss possibilities and concerns.

Both sides want to make sure a combined transit system benefits their county, as well as the other. The idea is that the two would come together in a joint powers agreement and have a third party administer the system.

However, as the transit systems currently exist, the idea of combining the two would focus more heavily on Martin County. Part of that is because Martin County has a significantly larger population, as well as more people who use the bus. Martin County had about 75,000 rides last year, while Faribault County had about 15,000.

The problem is Martin County’s system is administered by a third party, while Faribault County’s is still done by the county.

The other issue is the effectiveness of Faribault County’s system.

“If I was a third party administrator, I’d want Faribault County to revamp their system,” Martin County Commissioner Steve Donnelly said.

Faribault County Commissioner Bill Groskreutz said eastern Faribault County was not being served. The statistics of usage center around Blue Earth. He said less than 5 percent of rides came from outside Blue Earth. The majority of that small percentage came from Winnebago.

“Coming from the perspective of where I’m at — my constituents say the system doesn’t work,” said Groskreutz, who represents the Wells area.

This said, Martin County officials realize their system has its own downfalls. Martin County’s situation is similar, in that the bulk of rides are within the city of Fairmont.

Jan Klassen, the MnDOT transit representative, said the dispatching for Martin County is “chaos.” She said the woman who operates the dispatch frequently has two phones going at once — which causes rides to be missed.

The problem is stemming from the bus users treating the service as a taxi. Often, people will call on short notice, and Klassen said the bus system does everything it can to rush out — even if the call is made anywhere from a half hour in advance to five minutes. She said any bus system should have a mandatory 24-hour notice. This would allow the bus company to plan out its stops and become more effective.

Route planning is in the works for Martin County’s transit system, in its own strive to become more effective.

“When I see that bus go by with one person in it, it drives me crazy,” said Faribault County Commissioner Barb Steier.

Martin County Commissioner Gerald Boler felt the biggest problem in the county is that it pays three to four times more for insurance than Faribault County — due to the third-party administration.

A significant part of the discussion revolved around insurance options with Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust and whether their vision could be covered. If the two counties go together and use a third party for the administration of their combined transit system, then MCIT will only cover the buses. The third party would be responsible for insuring the drivers.

Another focal point of the discussion was on the cost. Faribault County Commissioner Tom Loveall repeatedly expressed that the biggest reason for doing this — aside from a more effective transit system — is the potential cost savings.

Klassen had “guesstimated” figures on what a joint powers administration would cost, and how much each county would contribute. Martin County was factored in for 58 percent of the share, while Faribault County was at 42 percent. She emphasized that the numbers and percentages were rough and just a starting point in pinning down exact figures.

The estimated amount she calculated for third-party administration for both counties was $150,000. The projections for total amount spent on the current transit systems — including administration — is $201,600 for Faribault County and $520,500 for Martin County.

Commissioners from both sides said that combined number should be their ceiling of what they spend.

“We want to start a better service at a little better cost,” Loveall said. “Can we do better with what we’re spending? It seems like it should be there.”

At the end of the meeting, the group decided Faribault County would take to its board a request to change its transit system to third-party administration like in Martin County.

“That might be the best thing right now,” Klassen said. “So it brings you two to apples and apples.”

“We’re supportive of it, but Faribault County needs to make a bigger step,” Donnelly said. “We’re supportive of a master plan.”