City, RTA may offer job related bus route
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

If we run it, will they come?

That's the theory behind a proposal to put a Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bus at the Port Aransas end of the ferry route in time to pick up workers at the ferry ramp and take them to work, and pick them up again at the end of the work day and take them back to the ferry.

Glenn Martin, the Port Aransan who's on the RTA board, said if a deal can be struck between the city and the RTA, the bus might run during morning go-to-work hours, slack off during the day, and run again as workers leave for home.

The idea surfaced several years ago, Martin said, but was revitalized as the proposal to create priority boarding passes for the ferries seemed to be wilting. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which runs the ferries, said it would begin issuing priority boarding passes only after 500 applications were received; as of a week ago, only 162 applications had come in from Port Aransas.

City council members have asked TxDOT to put a deadline on applying for boarding passes to provide a closure for the process, suggesting Dec. 1 as a likely deadline. No response had been received from TxDOT as of Monday, Sept. 11.

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Besides helping pay for new ferries, the boarding passes were expected to make getting to work easier for people who work in Port Aransas but live elsewhere and must wait in ferry lines to get to the job.

At its Aug. 25 meeting, the RTA's small cities committee noted that a

' shuttle to and from the ferry landing would be considered job-related, not tourist-related, as the current Port Aransas Trolley is. A route called the Padre Island Connection runs seasonally up State Hwy. 361 to Port Aransas from Padre Island and is also considered job-related.

Committee members noted that congestion is increasing at the ferry landings, and that many people already park in the TxDOT Park & Walk lot on Harbor Island and ride the ferries as pedestrians. The addition of a bus to serve work sites in Port Aransas might increase use of the Park & Walk lot and help reduce vehicle congestion at the ferries, the committee reasoned.

The RTA staff has been asked to work with the City of Port Aransas to work on recommended routes and costs. Martin said it's unlikely that the ferry shuttle would be a free route, but would more likely cost about the same as a regular urban RTA route - 50 cents. However, several employers have said they would contribute to the cost, or even pay the full price, of a priority boarding pass for car-pooling employees. Even at full fare, the cost of shuttle passes would be less than the proposed cost of a priority boarding pass.

The staff will also do a market survey to learn how much such a shuttle would be used. In an informal market survey conducted on the ferry this week, five out of five workers said they would park in the lot and use a free shuttle to ride to work if one was available. However, all added that they probably wouldn't pay to ride such a shuttle.

Martin said he didn't expect the shuttle to be in place before the first of the year at the earliest, even assuming it gets quick approval from the RTA board.

"We'd still have to acquire the buses," he said. "Those can be available for job-related routes through grants, and the money is in the bank, but the equipment would still have to be bought."

Martin said he envisioned a route that might run from the ferry landing along Cotter Avenue, down a city street - perhaps Station, Ninth or 11th streets - and out State Hwy. 361 as far as needed. The bus would then return along State Hwy. 361 and take Cut-off Road back to the ferry landing.