Ridership on CATS’ Red Stick Trolley has continued to dwindle, even after a marketing campaign launched earlier this spring to promote the route, and the Capital Region Planning Commission is currently conducting a formal analysis of the route—the required first step to changing or eliminating routes in the bus system.
The CRPC study is called a Service Equity Analysis and it is required by the federal government before CATS can do away with an inefficient or underutilized route. CATS Board President Jim Brandt says he doesn’t want to get ahead of the study and predict what the CRPC will recommend.
“But the numbers don’t look good,” he says. “With numbers this low, I don’t see how we can continue to operate this route.”
In May, the Red Stick Trolley had its second-worst month in its 18-month history, with just 218 riders.
During the first five months of the year, the trolley attracted a total of 1,643 riders, or about 10 per day on average. April was its best month, with 444 riders.
In 2015, an average 14 riders per day utilized the service. The trolley’s best month ever was in March 2015, which saw 733 riders.
“Obviously, it is a route we would have liked to have seen succeed,” Brandt says. “Strong support from the neighborhood association went into it.”
CATS introduced the route in January 2015 in response to interest from the Garden District neighborhood. It was intended to attract more riders of choice to the bus system, and costs nearly $500,000 a year to operate. But after an initial flurry of interest it failed to catch on.
For more than a year, CATS said it was going to do a better job marketing the service. Earlier this spring, it finally moved forward with those plans, contracting with its marketing firm, Covalent Logic, to provide $16,000 worth of advertising, marketing and social media specifically for the route.
The campaign was highly targeted to businesses and potential riders along the Red Stick Trolley’s route from Southdowns through the Garden District to downtown. Maps, window decals and other promotional material were distributed to those in the target area, says Covalent Logic CEO Stafford Wood.
The firm also conducted a Ride and Learn educational event, engaged in social media and bought some online advertisements. After the rise in ridership in April at the height of the campaign, however, it plummeted in May.
The CRPC analysis should be complete within the next two weeks. The board will make a final decision based on those findings. Any changes or eliminations of the route must ultimately be approved by the Metro Council.
—Stephanie Riegel
