The Sedona City Council approved a reduction on Tuesday, Dec. 12, of the base fare for the city’s yet-to-be deployed microtransit system from $6 to $2.

Council members also explained their views on how Sedona’s transit needs have evolved and how the city’s plans for microtransit service should be reoriented to focus on serving residents rather than visitors by providing trailhead shuttle connections.

Fares

On Jan. 25, 2022, the city council set the initial fare for the microtransit system at $6 for a one-way trip, with discounted multi-use passes and $3 fares for disabled individuals.

The city’s transit need assessment had previously showed that 26% of residents supported fares between $1 and $3, 32% of residents supported fares between $0.50 and $1 and 42% wanted the service to be free for rides within Sedona.

City Transit Administrator Robert Weber told council that it was necessary to provide an incentive for transit use in order to get cars off the road.

“Higher fares are used to govern ridership,” Weber said. The proposal for a $6 base fare had “started your dialogue with your community.”

Council then unanimously approved a reduction to a $2 base fare with $1 discounted fares for certain categories of individuals.

Functionality

When Mayor Scott Jablow asked about the timing for the introduction of service, Weber replied, “I would be delighted to be operational by next June.”

Weber also explained that microtransit service would “basically shadow our trailhead shuttles,” which run from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Microtransit hours of operation are planned to be 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Based on current simulations, Weber is expecting between 96 and 320 trips per day and between 184 and 536 passengers per day during the off season, using four deployed vehicles to respond within a 15-minute wait time.

“Every minute those buses are out there, I think it’s $1.16 a minute for each bus,” Weber said.

Focus

Council members learned that the microtransit service had been designed primarily to take tourists from hotels to the trailhead shuttles.

“This is really different than what I had in my head,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. “Clearly it’s to get people out of cars, but I thought it was going to be more geared toward our residents, and now hearing that it’s tied to the shuttle is distressing to me.”

“The original reason we were launching it was to support and make sure the trailhead shuttles were as successful as they could be,” City Manager Karen Osburn explained. “Every public policy conversation we have had relative to microtransit has been relative to the augmentation of the trailhead shuttles,” adding that she was never under the impression that staff had been selling anything else to the community.

“The idea has morphed,” Ploog said. “We have needs from our community members to take up some of the slack from the Verde Valley Caregivers. Why are we limiting this shuttle to Thursday through Sunday?”

“From my perspective there’s been no course change,” Weber said, but he added, “We can build on that.”

“It’s not microtransit, it’s on-demand shuttle connect,” Dunn said. “Do you have no concerns over the fact that most residents have no interest in going to use this service to go to the trailheads or the trail shuttle connections? Do you know how many residents today ride the shuttles?”

“We haven’t done any surveys … but I’m pretty sure it’s pretty small,” Weber said.

“My colleagues have all expressed disappointment, and I’m struggling to find a word stronger than that,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said. “I remember having these conversations … We always talked about, clearly, that this needed to be perceived as something that was giving residents a service.”

“We need to work on expanding this as soon as possible,” Kinsella said.

“I too will throw a log on the fire here about being taken by surprise,” Councilman Pete Furman said.

“That was at that point council’s policy,” Williamson said. “It seems now that cars on the roadway isn’t a priority … and so we’ll change the policy.”

“I really do think that residents are going to use this service to go to the movies,” Jablow said.

Council unanimously directed staff to revert the previous policy that would have prioritized microtransit requests connecting with the trailhead shuttle system.