VanGo Shows There’s Hope in Art of Transit

Transportation in Southern California is always a weighty topic. Getting where we want to go, when we want to get there is something that consumes at least a portion of everyone’s day.

If you don’t have your own car, or don’t drive, the only real option is the bus. But what if that bus, with its fixed route, doesn’t get a senior citizen to the grocery store or the doctor, or an elementary school student to an after-school program?

These trips demand a curbside pickup and drop-off for safety and convenience. What then? Unfortunately, with so many two-parent working families around, there’s no one available to take Grandma or Billie to where they need to go, and the bus isn’t an option.

In recent years the pool of available public transit options has gotten even smaller. With the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) had to phase out the Dial-A-Ride program to provide service for ADA patrons. There were only so many dollars to go around and Dial-A-Ride lost. It was a shame to see this popular program go because it offered flexible transportation to everyone, and to any destination within the county, for a nominal fare.

In 1996, thanks to some local grant funding, the city of Brea, in partnership with two other cities, chose to establish a program to meet this transportation need by providing its own shuttle service program. It is called VanGo. It uses “smart” technologies (digital dispatch, mobile data terminals, etc.) that get the van to the rider faster and more efficiently. The “smart shuttle” concept would combine both fixed routes and on-demand service.

What lessons did we learn and how did the program perform? After almost two years in service, we’ve found that ridership has grown slowly as people learn about VanGo. Our original goals for the number of passengers per hour were way too high given the type of service and the difficulty in marketing it throughout the three cities.

But commuter-oriented service has been able to generate high ridership numbers, and there’s a steady growth of MetroLink riders and transfers of OCTA bus riders to VanGo.

When the original grant funding was depleted, Brea’s partner cities, for a variety of reasons, decided to discontinue the service in their communities. The program now operates solely in Brea. My city decided to take another look at the conclusions from VanGo’s start to see if there might be ways to adjust the service so that it would continue to be a benefit to Brea residents. As the service currently exists, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, those needing transportation can call the shuttle dispatch line and request service anywhere in Brea for the fee of $1 per trip.

The first conclusion is that the commuter service has the highest ridership and cost-efficiency of the services offered, and commuters are loyal passengers. Therefore, we’ve decided to work harder toward the concept of creating public/private partnerships between Brea and the many corporations in town. This would allow the businesses to offer an easy way for their employees to get to work (especially those who ride the train), and bring needed dollars into the city for the operation of the shuttle.

Secondly, the demand, or Dial-a-Ride type, service has more appeal for individuals who need to go someplace specific than commuter service does. In Brea, we are working very hard to offer our citizens a way of life that doesn’t mean you have to get in your car every time you need to go somewhere. It lowers the congestion on the streets; it helps with pollution problems; and best of all, it allows people to stay connected to the community by getting them where they need to go in a way that they and their families feel good about. We call this a “livable community,” and Brea is committed to the concept.

That commitment has led us to continue the VanGo service. What are the lessons for other cities?

The commuter service provides a reliable source of income and helps subsidize the service for individuals. This type of commitment doesn’t come cheap. While there are some dollars out there for cities to try a smart-shuttle service, they are few and far between.

If business and government can work together to make VanGo more cost-effective, and we can find the right mix of commuter and demand service that raises the number of riders, we are hoping that OCTA will take over the service in Brea and spread the model to other cities in Orange County.

Has the hard work been worth it? Just ask our residents and workers who depend on VanGo. I believe they’ll give you a resounding “Yes!”