Transit system still growing in second decade

North Central Montana Transit will be adding five new buses to its fleet in 2023 as well as testing a new expanded route to Helena as its ridership continues to increase, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The service initially saw around 50 riders a week, but as the service gained popularity its ridership has exploded, increasing to around 350 a week now, offering daily rides across the Hi-Line as well as trips to Great Falls.

Opportunity Link Inc., the nonprofit anti-poverty organization based in Havre, identified increased transportation as a major need in the community, and spearheaded the effort to create a local bus system.

The system started operation Aug. 24, 2009, transporting passengers between Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy with its main hub in Havre, with stops at points in between, and trips Tuesday and Thursday to Great Falls and back.

The proposal estimated between 2,000 and 4,000 passengers would be transported a year.

Instead, in its first year of operation, 18,012 passengers boarded the buses.

Serving a major need and expanding services

Opportunity Link Finance Manager and bus driver Susann Tharp said there are a lot of people across the Hi-Line who don't own, or can't drive personal vehicles and would otherwise have a lot of trouble accessing basic necessities like groceries, medical appointments and work.

Tharp said there are a lot of people who walk long distances just in town to do basic things like go to the bank, and with the kind of weather Havre gets much of the year, those people need help.

Tharp, who's been with Opportunity Link for a decade, said she became very passionate about the system, which motivated her to get a Commercial Driver's License so she could drive routes, a decision she has not regretted one bit.

"I love to drive the bus, I really do," she said.

The system was temporarily shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic but was able to start making grocery runs for people by June of 2020 and was back in full service by September of that year, having developed a sanitation and safety plan for the buses to mitigate risk to users.

Tharp said it took about eight months for their ridership to get back to pre-pandemic numbers, but since then they've seen a significant uptick in people interested in the service, and by the end of this year they will have nearly doubled their fleet size with three new vehicles this spring and two more in the fall to supplement their currently six-vehicle fleet.

She said this expansion, along with the funds they were recently granted to build an addition to their offices, is a significant milestone for the service.

She said they are also going to test out a new expanded route that will go to Helena and Great Fall, but the frequency of that potential route, or whether it will become a permanent fixture at all depends on the amount of interest they get during the test run this summer.

She said if they can fill their largest bus at least once a month they are going to consider that a successful test.

Tharp said they've had a lot of requests over the years for a trip to Helena, whether that's for visiting the state capital, relatives or businesses not available in Great Falls, but it's not something they've been able to seriously consider until now, and she hopes it pans out.

NCMT continues, grows, despite drive shortage

Along with its daily routes in Havre Monday through Friday, the transit system has offered twice-weekly trips to Great Falls for years, with the primary user-base being people going to Benefis Health System for appointments, but they also provide trips Monday through Friday into town from Rocky Boy and Fort Belknap, connecting with the reservations's transit systems, as well as communities on those routes like Chinook and Harlem.

Tharp said there are also a lot of people around town, primarily the elderly and people with disabilities, that have trouble finding transportation otherwise, so they are also a big group that uses the service.

The service also regularly provides transportation for special events, like Havre Police Department's Christmas time Shop with a Cop, and other services, such as providing transportation for North Central Senior Center.

She said there aren't many transit systems of this size in Montana that cover such a large area, with routes that close in on 100 miles long, and these long rides tend to create a bond between the riders and drivers.

When she first started, she said, she was given a route, which, on the surface, wasn't hard to understand, but some of the more granular details, whether to stop in the front or back of a building and things like that, were intimidating to figure out.

However, riders were happy to help her settle into the role and point out the best way to handle their respective areas of her route, which was extremely helpful in acclimating to her new job.

In her five years as a driver, she said, she's come to view many of the riders as close friends or even family and serving them is a wonderful experience.

"You hear that all the time, but they really are," she said. "The people that ride our buses are like family. They're all great people."

However, Tharp said, while the system is something she's passionate about, it still has challenges.

Across the U.S., a years-long bus driver shortage continues with no end in sight, and Havre has not been untouched.

In addition to the public schools facing difficulties finding drivers, North Central Montana Transit is also having trouble, with drivers certified in operating vehicles with air brakes being particularly difficult, nearly impossible, to find.

Tharp said she feels the requirements, both regulatory and financial, to get and maintain a CDL are too high and people across the industry are deciding not to bother with expensive training or any of the stipulations for staying certified.

She also said the service, like many nonprofits, faces the ever-present difficulties of funding.

While the service gets a yearly grant that covers much of its costs and support from the Montana Department of Transportation along with other funding partners they still rely on individual donations to keep afloat.

Tharp said they used to charge a dollar-per-ride fare since many of their riders can't afford to pay any more than that, but with fuel costs even that didn't amount to much.

Since then, she said, insurance companies have been dropping small transit systems left and right, and one of the stipulations for keeping NCMT's current insurance is that they don't charge fares at all, so even the small sum they used to make there is no longer something they can get.

She said switching to electric, like a lot of city transit systems are doing to save on fuel, is also not possible, as their routes are long enough that transitioning to electric isn't possible.

Despite these difficulties, Tharp said, she's still passionate about the services and hopeful that they might be able to offer hourly stops throughout Havre before she retires. At least, that's her hope, she said.