JACKSON, Wyo. — START Bus Transit Operations Director Bruce Abel is working on “tentative agreements” with the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board and the Jackson Hole Airport to make START’s airport shuttle a mainstay for the community this upcoming winter.
Abel presented a monthly update from START to the Board of County Commissioners on Monday, July 29 and included details about his ongoing efforts to secure funding for the airport shuttle, which ran as a pilot program from Dec. 16, 2023 through April 14 between Jackson and Jackson Hole Airport (JAC).
One bus conducted 18 trips per day from four stops in Jackson to the Jackson Hole Airport every hour from 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily. One-way fares were $10 for adults, $5 for kids 12 and under, $5 for seniors and people with disabilities and free for kids under 8.
“I am pleased to say, we have reached tentative agreements with both the TTB [Travel and Tourism Board] and the Airport, relative to a three-way partnership to fund the provision of that service this upcoming winter,” Abel said.
Abel explained that the TTB secured grants to help fund the service and the Airport is working to fund passes for employees, which would provide some upfront funding for START. He said he will bring details back to the County and Town at the next Joint Information Meeting because START is a jointly funded department.
During the budgeting process this spring, the START Board requested the reimplementation of the shuttle in the department’s FY25 budget. It was ultimately left out of the budget because town and county staff could not make the findings to recommend funding the shuttle. Commissioners and Councilors did share conceptual support for the shuttle and noted an openness to adding a budget amendment if Abel could secure alternative funding.
According to Abel, the pilot program had mixed results when considering the outlined metrics to determine success.
“The best way to characterize this is, some goals were not met, some goals were partially met and other goals were met,” Abel said. “We met some of the metrics in terms of cost recovery, and on-time performance, we did not necessarily meet the metrics for ridership but we did see the appropriate growth curve.”
Over the four-month program, an average of 80 riders per day used the service, falling below the ridership goal of 180 per day by the end of the program. While the program was ongoing, START shared that daily ridership totals peaked at 141 to 188 riders per day and ridership increased over the course of the program, with daily ridership peaking in March. The goal of a 40% or higher fare box recovery goal was met; the pilot concluded with a 45% to 50% fare box recovery rate. User surveys, conducted throughout the pilot program, reported above 90% satisfaction from riders.
The airport shuttle pilot program was the only public transportation option to the airport in recent history. In 2018 the Ride2Fly program was defunded after five years. The program was replaced by Taxi2Fly which was also canceled in 2020.
The Town Council and Board of County Commissioners have a Joint Information Meeting planned for Monday, Aug. 5, although an agenda has not been released yet.
