Shuttle hoppers' bus in question
Ridership dwindles as temporary service shuts down
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

There seems to be no consistent reason why people stopped riding the shuttle bus that started from the ferry landing and circulated through Port Aransas for a few months.

Ridership started off strong - 99 riders during the first week of operation, which started Monday, July 23.

By October, however, those numbers had dropped to 41 during the first week, and in successive weeks they fell to 31, 24 and 23. The last week the shuttle was in operation was the week of Oct. 29, but buses operated only two days that week. Two riders took advantage of the shuttles.

In October, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), which was operating the shuttles as an experiment, cut the routes back to four days a week. Until then, the shuttles had been operating seven days a week.

The RTA had said it would operate the shuttles through October to see how many people used them. A decision on whether to start them again next year will be made later this year, the RTA said.

Linda Hernandez, who rode the shuttle to her job at the Dunes Condominiums, said she rode with her car pool group. When the car poolers abandoned the shuttle for the car pool again, she also quit riding the shuttle, she said.

Hernandez said a fellow worker told her the shuttles would have done better if they'd been started earlier in the summer, closer to the height of the tourist season.

At Plantation Suites, several workers used the shuttle, according to the desk clerk. However, all those workers were exchange students; they didn't so much stop using the shuttles as they simply went home when their stay in the United States was over.

At Holiday Inn Express, only one worker consistently used the shuttles, said a woman who would identify herself only as Sue.

That worker would probably still be riding the bus if it was still running, Sue said.

When the shuttles first started, Port Aransas executive assistant Pat Garrett said many riders were shoppers who were coming across from Aransas Pass to visit stores in Port Aransas.

"They had been going to walk to shops, but the shuttle drivers told them they were welcome to ride. They just had to comply with the schedule," Garrett said.

Initially, shuttles ran seven days a week, aiming to take people from the ferry landings between 6-9 a.m. and return them from 3-6 p.m.

The buses were free for the first two weeks; then, the RTA began charging 25 cents a ride.

The shuttles were aimed at people who work in Port Aransas and who take the ferry to work. They allowed workers to take advantage of the free park-and-ride on the Harbor Island side of the ferry route, ride the ferry as a pedestrian passenger, and take the shuttle to their workplaces.

Garrett said many workers probably rode the shuttles when ferry waiting lines were long, but continued to drive their vehicles if the waits were short.