DART made several changes to its service on Oct. 13, 2019. All changes for this major service change were cost-neutral. Because of this, DART had to eliminate, or shift, resources from underutilized services to better serve riders in other areas.
Local Route 10 - East University
DART created Local Route 10 in 2016 as a partnership with Broadlawns Medical Center to provide all day service to its East University Clinic. Previously, there was an extension of Route 1 that traveled along East University to Pleasant Hill during peak hours only.
After several years in service, ridership along Route 10 did not meet DART’s service standards. Therefore, DART discontinued Route 10 midday service, essentially returning service to the level it was at prior to the partnership with Broadlawns. Route 10 operates with the same alignment and schedule during the peak hours.
DART conducted a Title VI Service Equity Analysis as part of the public input and planning process for the October 2019 service change. This analysis did find that Route 10 does serve a population with a significantly higher percentage of minority residents when compared to the DART system as a whole. Because of this, the reduction of midday service could have a disparate impact on minority residents.
The DART Board of Commissioners considered these findings in its meeting on July 9. 2019. Ultimately, plans to remove midday trips on Local Route 10 was approved because the midday ridership levels were so low, DART could not justify removing resources from another route to retain these trips. We also could not identify a new business or institution along the route to partner with to cover the cost of continuing midday service.
Questions?
Riders with questions about this service change, or DART's public input process are encouraged to reach out to DART staff via email, or by calling DART Customer Service at 515-283-8100.