During Fiscal Years 2017 and 2018, Hub City Transit’s paratransit service, which is offered to senior citizens or individuals with disabilities, completed a total of 12,237 trips consisting of more than 70,000 miles around the city.
In the interest of looking into how to improve that service even more, city officials are publicizing Requests for Proposals in attempt to find out who could better provide it – whether that be under the current city leadership or an outside vendor.
“We do (the paratransit) service with our existing staff; we use our existing buses to do that,” said Andrew Ellard, director of the city’s Urban Development Department. “The service takes qualified riders to things like doctor’s appointments or to the grocery store, and it’s on a reservation basis, but you have to qualify for that service with a specific disability.
“So we’re trying to find out if there are vendors that provide a similar service, or who are able to provide the service more effectively or more cost-efficiently than we can. So it would not be a new service; it would be a way to try and find a vendor to do what we do, but potentially better.”
The RFPs will be accepted at Hattiesburg City Hall until 10 a.m. July 20. If Hattiesburg City Council members decide to accept a submittal, the new vendor or organization will enter into a specific contract with the city regarding services and accessibility.
“They’d be required to do all the same things that we’re required to do,” Ellard said. “They’d have to comply with the terms of the accessibility of their vehicles, and they’d have to report to the city – we’d still be qualifying the riders and those kinds of things.
“If it turns out we’re wrong, and we’re able to continue to be able to offer the service more effectively than what outside vendors can, then absolutely we’ll continue to operate it as we have.”
Along with the paratransit service, Hub City Transit also offers a fixed-route service, which can be accessed for a small fee at any HCT bus stop in the city. There are seven routes throughout the city, all designated by color: Red (Country Club), Purple (Palmer’s Crossing), Orange (Broadway Drive), Green (4th Street), Gold (the University of Southern Mississippi), Brown (Mississippi 24) and Blue (Hardy Street).
In addition to the RFPs for the paratransit service, Hattiesburg City Council members also recently approved the submittal of a Federal Transit Administration grant application for Hub City Transit. If approved, the grant would help provide for the anticipated operations, maintenance and capital costs for Fiscal Year 2021, with approximately $1.124 million in federal funds and $731,088 in local funds.
“We have to plan pretty far in advance for our Hub City Transit grants, because those FTA grants take a little time to process,” Ellard said. “It involves coordination with not just the city but with the (Metropolitan Planning Organization).
“So it seems pretty far in advance, but that’s about how far in advance we need to be planning for those operations.”
