Ferry shuttle fate rests on riders

Ridership on the Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) ferry shuttle, which began promisingly, has fallen off drastically in the past two weeks, figures show.

The first week the shuttles began operating, July 23-28, 99 riders boarded the buses. The second week, that climbed to 101. The third week, Aug. 5-11, 95 people rode the shuttles.

But the week of Aug. 12-18, only 27 people boarded, and the week of Aug. 19-25, that number climbed only to 28.

Pat Garrett, executive assistant at Port Aransas City Hall, keeps tabs on the numbers. Garrett said she had no explanation for the fluctuation.

"We can look at the numbers after this week, when school and university are in, and maybe see higher numbers," Garrett said on Tuesday, Aug. 28.

A possible explanation for the drop in numbers is that the RTA began charging 25 cents a ride for the shuttles. The rides were originally free, as a way to acquaint potential riders with them.

The shuttles were started by the RTA as a way to get Port Aransas workers across the ferry and to their work sites without having to wait in ferry lines. Under the system, workers leave their cars in a Park 'n' Walk lot on Harbor Island and ride the ferries to Port Aransas as pedestrians.

Once here, they can board the buses near the ferry ramps. The buses make a rough circuit of the city every 20 minutes, dropping people off at workplaces, between 6-9 a.m. A similar circuit from 3-6 p.m. takes workers back to the ferry ramps.

The RTA said it would run the shuttles as an experiment through Oct. 31. If the experiment pans out, the agency plans to put them back into operation next year as a seasonal shuttle route.