Sheldon, Iowa — At a Sheldon City Council meeting this past May, it was brought up that the City’s contribution to the Regional Transit Authority or “Rides” was helpful and that they were considering service upgrades to the Sheldon area.
Rides officials have now released information about those service upgrades.
Rides Chief Operations Officer Cindy Voss tells us that Rides is now serving Sheldon with two full-time buses Monday thru Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and an additional bus serving as a backup during the midday, two to three days per week. She says that’s an extension of their service hours as well.
Vos says both buses are busy and they are averaging close to 30 one-way trips per day on the buses. She says Rides is maintaining their service on Saturday mornings as well with a bus running from 8:00 a.m. until noon.
She says that while their budget year began July 1st, 2018, they waited to confirm with Village Northwest Unlimited as they wanted to ensure that they were establishing Rides’ increased service at the most beneficial hours for their consumers. She says that Jerry Postma and his staff have been “remarkable to interact with during the planning process.”
She says it’s also very important to them that they still have ample service for the general public in Sheldon to access the Rides bus. Voss says their increase in service hours is in response to consumer need. With the changes in their Mental Health Care Reform and Integrated Settings Rule, they are aware that many jobs extend beyond the Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. day.
Voss says Rides will continue to monitor service needs with the community of Sheldon and will investigate the feasibility of adding additional service if the need arises.
Voss emphasized that they are beyond grateful to the City of Sheldon for supporting their service and she says they would not be able to provide service at this level without it.
