This weekend, for the first time in its 37-year history, Athens Transit will offer bus service on Sunday — and it’s free.
In fact, the Sunday service — offered on eight of Athens Transit’s 15 regular routes — will be free on Sundays through Sept. 6. The free service is designed to both publicize the Sunday service and attract ridership to Athens Transit on Sundays — and the remainder of the week — during what is now a year-long pilot program funded with $293,000 allocated by the Athens-Clarke County government.
The total cost of the Sunday service for the fiscal year that ends June 30 is projected at $364,000, with $71,000 in farebox revenue expected to augment the county funding.
Athens Transit is able to offer the free Sunday rides through Sept. 6 because the program isn’t beginning until one month into the new fiscal year, and thus can stay within budget parameters even without farebox revenue, Athens Transit Director Butch McDuffie explained recently.
Athens-Clarke County’s mayor and commission, along with Athens Transit officials, will review the performance of the Sunday bus service program next spring as they prepare a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016. Depending on ridership and farebox numbers, the mayor and commission could decide to continue Sunday service beyond next summer.
“I’ve always said that people who need transit need it seven days a week, not just six,” McDuffie said.
The pilot program comes in large part as the result of sustained requests from Athens Transit riders, in addition to lobbying and other work by Athens For Everyone, a group that grew out of local activist Tim Denson’s unsuccessful 2014 campaign for mayor. Denson’s platform included a push for expanding local transit services.
According to Denson, results of a survey connected with his mayoral campaign in an effort to determine what issues were most important to the community revealed that expanded bus service was the top priority among survey respondents.
Denson said Wednesday he is “super-excited” about Sunday bus service, “knowing what it can mean for the community.”
When Athens Transit service was established years ago, Denson said, there was little need for Sunday service. “Pretty much on Sundays, you went to church and you went home,” he said. Now, though, people work on Sundays, or use the day to go shopping and run other errands, and so they need seven-day bus service, Denson noted.
But, Denson said, “Right now, we’re in a trial period, and I’ve been reminded of that by many of the people in the county government.”
Ensuring Sunday ridership, and introducing Athens Transit to potential new riders who may have avoided transit service in the past, are two reasons that Athens For Everyone is augmenting the no-fare Sunday service with an effort of its own to ensure significant Sunday ridership on Athens Transit buses.
This weekend, Athens For Everyone is urging Sunday bus riders to take photos of themselves riding the bus on Sunday and post their photos to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram — with the hashtags #SundayBus or “BusToBrunch — to be entered into a raffle for a 22-ride bus pass or a pair of Bluetooth headphones.
Also according to the Athens For Everyone website, a number of intown Athens restaurants are offering brunch deals to Sunday riders of Athens Transit buses. Big City Bread, Heirloom Cafe, 5&10, White Tiger and Hi-Lo are offering 10 percent off brunch, while Donderos’ Cafe is offering 5 percent off and World Famous is offering $1 off. To take advantage of the deals, Sunday bus riders should ask their driver for a transfer pass to show in the restaurant to get the discount. Information on the routes to take to the participating restaurants is available online at athensforeveryone.com/sunday-bus-service/.
For full information on Sunday bus schedules, see the Athens Transit website at athenstransit.com.
Other promotions of Sunday bus service are forthcoming from Athens For Everyone, Denson said, including a “treasure hunt” planned for the third week of free service, in which riders will be asked to search for special items or landmarks as they are riding.
Under the pilot program, Sunday bus service will run from 7:45 a.m. until 9:45 p.m. on the North Avenue, East Athens, Beechwood/Baxter, West Broad/Atlanta Highway, Barber Street/Chase street, Macon Highway/Five Points, Georgia Square Mall and Lexington Road/Gaines School Road routes.
McDuffie said the initial goal for Sunday ridership is 1,400 passengers, which is just slightly under the current 1,457 passenger per day average for Athens Transit’s Saturday bus service.
In terms of assessing Sunday bus service — work that will begin in earnest early next year — McDuffie said that a passenger load of less than 15 riders per hour on any given route is generally seen as the point at which transit officials should consider either discontinuing or combining routes.
Denson is calling Sunday bus service “one step forward” in what he says he hopes the community sees “as a larger infrastructure issue” involving alternative transportation needs for walkers and cyclists as well as transit users.
If Sunday bus service does become a permanent part of Athens Transit, a next step by local alternative transportation advocates might be to seek late-night bus service, Denson said.