Private deals help RGRTA keep bus fares low

A dollar gets Rochester-area bus passengers much farther than in many other parts of upstate New York. The Regional Transit Service's $1 regular fare is half as much as in Buffalo and Syracuse. In Albany, dig out your change — a bus ride costs $1.50.

Yet it probably is no cheaper to run a bus system here. One difference that sets the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority apart financially is a series of agreements with large institutions in the region, including universities, a social service agency and a nursing home, that pay subsidies for bus service.

The paying organization gets routes and schedules more tailored to its needs, and the authority recovers more of the cost of operating its buses. Fares only cover a fraction of that expense.

Some other transit systems have similar arrangements, but the local bus system appears to be uniquely successful with them. RGRTA has raised more money from these agreements than regular fares every year since 2009.

In this year's budget, the authority expects to raise $16.7 million, about one-fifth of its total budget, from these agreements, versus about $11 million collected at fare boxes.

These partnerships became more central to RGRTA's business model starting about eight years ago as state funding for transportation plunged, according to CEO Bill Carpenter. While also trimming routes with low ridership, the authority began approaching local businesses, including those affected by the cuts.

"We said, 'You can be our business partner,'" Carpenter explained.

The single largest deal the authority has by far is with the Rochester School District to bus about 9,800 middle and high school students, Carpenter said. That amounts to $10.6 million this year, according to the transit authority.

In another key agreement, the Rochester Institute of Technology also is expected to pay RGRTA about $1.4 million this year, according to the authority's comprehensive plan.

Outside the immediate Rochester area, RGRTA should receive about $800,000 from agreements with organizations in Livingston County this year — SUNY Geneseo is a major client there. Another $1.6 million comes from Wayne County, where the Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Service Office is a major partner.

The transit authority also has a number of smaller agreements — the Everest Institute in Irondequoit will pay about $84,000 this year, and Rochester General Health Systems will pay about $20,000 for bus service to and from Hill Haven Transitional Care Center in Penfield. Overall, about 60 organizations have ongoing agreements with the authority, Carpenter said.

Most transportation systems wowerk with larger employers, supermarkets and colleges to meet their needs, but RGRTA has had more success than most in working out subsidies to do so as a matter of agency policy, said Bob Zerrillo, public policy director at the New York Public Transit Association.

"RGRTA's arrangement that they've got is probably a little more sophisticated than some of the other transit systems," he said.

These agreements also help keep fares affordable for people who rely on buses to get around, according to Carpenter. The authority cut its regular fare from $1.25 to $1 in 2008. While eliminating 25-cent transfers from one bus to another, the authority started offering $3 all-day bus passes.

"It simplified the fare," Carpenter said. "Nobody's paying more on a daily basis. Most people are paying less."

RIT's agreement provides more frequent stops at the Henrietta campus and bus routes on weekdays that are free for anyone with an RIT identification from off-campus apartment complexes to the university, said Randy Vercauteren, RIT's director of parking, transportation and building services.

Buses also run through apartment complexes where many students live to shopping areas on weekends, he said. The deal helps reduce RIT's carbon footprint and address the fact that campus parking is scarce, Vercauteren said.

"I think we have a good business partnership with RGRTA, and it offers our students an alternative that I think is very valuable to them and to us," he said.

The University of Rochester, which runs some of its own buses, has a smaller agreement for about $28,000 for a dedicated bus run from Greece to its medical center, once in the morning and the afternoon. Ridership in the last few years was too low for the RGRTA to justify running the service without the university pitching in, according to Sara Miller, a university spokeswoman.

"As a demonstration of the university's support for reducing single-occupancy vehicles coming to campus, the university provides a contribution to keep the service in place," she said in a statement.

At RIT, Vercauteren acknowledged that he and the transit authority sometimes discuss what kind of service the RGRTA should provide before asking for a subsidy.

"That's something that we talk about all the time," he said. "I think that's just the responsible thing to do."

Elsewhere, Zerrillo said he knows of businesses that have rebuked transit agencies that asked for subsidies because they did not think they should have to pay extra for what they viewed as a public service.

For his part, Carpenter often describes his approach to the transit authority as providing a public service with a private-sector mindset. Funding the bus system today is not like the '80s and '90s, when transit agencies could rely on Albany for more money, he said.

The authority seems to be making the right adjustments, Carpenter said — its ridership continues to rise.

At Hill Haven, a skilled nursing home in Penfield, the agreement with the transit authority for several years has provided buses scheduled to come and go during shift changes for its workers. Many of the facility's employees live in the city and need public transit to get to work, said Kathy McGuire, senior vice president for behavioral health and long-term care for Rochester General Health Systems.

"I think the bus availability really adds to the stability of our workforce," McGuire said.

DRILEY@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/rilzd