As the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority gears up for a new marketing campaign to improve the image of public transportation in and around Charleston, it's dealing with a continuous downturn in ridership.
One of the main reasons for that, Assistant General Manager Doug Hartley said, is the price of fuel.
"We're trying to do everything we can on our end to keep the system attractive, but there's certain things we can't control and one of them is fuel prices," he said. "When gas was over $3, we [saw] a dramatic increase in ridership."
There's a flip side to that, though, because lower fuel prices help KRT's operating costs, he added.
The transit authority made a few key changes in 2015 that also probably affected ridership, Hartley said.
In July 2015, KRT increased its flat base fare from $1 to $1.50. It also began to offer a day pass for $2.50, allowing the user unlimited rides.
Hartley said there's a formula KRT follows when considering fare increases.
"For every 10 percent raise, you lose about 3 percent of riders," he said. "Anytime you adjust rates, you'll see a little decrease in ridership."
He added, "we don't have a lot of riders of convenience - a lot of riders are transit dependent."
When comparing November 2015 and November 2016, ridership numbers dropped an average of 9.8 percent.
In October 2015, the transit authority, which carries roughly two million riders annually, made some changes to its routes.
"We eliminated four routes that weren't productive. Some were in the city, and some were outside," Hartley said. The authority also added one additional route for a current total of 19.
Hartley said the route changes stemmed from a two-year study that looked at reallocating resources to more productive routes from those used less frequently.
"Part of the reason was because of diminishing federal funds. We started looking ahead at how to operate services on today's dollars," he said.
In addition, KRT now has an app where riders can see where their bus is and when it will arrive, he said.
The transit authority receives about $2.5 million in federal funding annually. The majority, $8 million, comes from an excess property tax levy, which is split between ambulance authorities from Charleston and Kanawha County, as well as fire and police services and KRT.
Less than 20 percent of the transit authority's revenue comes from bus fares, Hartley said.
While the transit authority's board members are cognizant of the dip in ridership, an upcoming "image awareness marketing campaign" may change that.
According to the minutes from KRT's Nov. 17 meeting, the campaign will use all types of media and give "real riders' testimonials under the concept of 'The Faces of KRT.'" It will be launched this winter or early spring and then be repeated next fall and spring of 2018.
The project is estimated to cost $71,500, not including the printing, photography and production costs.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.