Community members living in Woodland, Madison, Esparto, Capay, and Brooks will soon benefit from more than $1 million in bus service improvements funded by the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians.
The Tribe has agreed to double its present subsidy of service on Route 215 and will provide nearly $1 million a year to cover the cost of YoloBus services between Woodland and Cache Creek Casino Resort.
The Tribe is also providing $500,000 to purchase a new YoloBus that will add the capacity needed to start the additional service, according to YoloBus officials.
These changes will result in a 55 percent increase in the number of round trips (from 11 to 17) operating 365 days a year. The bus service is heavily used by casino employees, and is also open to the general public.
It serves Woodland, Madison, Esparto, Capay and Cache Creek Casino Resort in Brooks.
"Route 215 has proven to be a tremendous help to Cache Creek employees, and it has had a big traffic reduction impact on Highway 16. It helps our neighbors for the Tribe to increase our financial support for this invaluable service," said Rumsey Tribal Chairman Marshall McKay.
The Tribe, Yolo County Transportation District, and Yolo County representatives have been discussing over the past 18 months ways to expand bus service that benefits everyone without costing additional tax dollars.
"Everyone wanted to do the right thing," said Mike McGowan, Yolo County supervisor involved in the negotiations. "It was a matter of coming up with something that made the most sense in terms of a practical solution to help mitigate traffic congestion on Highway 16."
The Tribe has also agreed to pay close to $100,000 annually to provide "curb-to-curb" paratransit service for seniors, disabled and other riders living in the Capay Valley. That paratransit service will extend as far as Brooks, with occasional service to Rumsey and Guinda.
On the YoloBus fixed route side, the Tribe also subsidizes the cost of monthly bus passes for employees, purchasing them from the transit district for $60 each and making them available to Casino employees for $40 each. At the Casino, the Tribe will pay for and install an electronic information sign at the resort displaying when the buses will arrive and leave in real time.
"YoloBus service to the casino has been highly successful. We already provide 19,000 rides a month on that route," said Art Pimentel, chairman of the transportation district and a Woodland city councilman.
"Some 90 percent of the riders on that route work at the casino, so it makes sense that the Tribe be a big financial partner in the route," Pimentel said. "Of the 2,400 employees who work there, more than 700 live in Woodland alone. The service is a major benefit to Woodland residents, and to over 250 residents from Esparto, Madison and Brooks who work at the casino."
Officials consider this is a win-win-win project, said Cindy Tuttle, County-Tribe Coordinator. The general public is being provided unprecedented public transportation opportunities in the corridor, the Tribe helps the County reduce the number of people on the welfare roles by giving them transit access to the jobs at the resort, the resort employees get reliable transportation, and YoloBus has the opportunity to provide a much higher level of transit service than it otherwise could afford.
"When we started the service eight years ago, we ran just three trips a day," said Terry Bassett, the transit district's executive director. "A $60,000 annual contribution from the Tribe helped match federal and county funds back then. With the bus service expansion, the Tribe will be increasing its contribution to us by some 18-fold (1,796 percent), compared to eight years ago."
Cathie Wicks, RISE executive director said, "The expansion of the bus routes helps the entire community especially transitioning youth, families with unreliable transportation, and children.
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