Des Moines bus riders could lose their 'lifeline' if DART cuts service to balance budget

New Des Moines resident Mya Walker is still adjusting to the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority's bus schedules. Walker says she's been using the transit system to help her tour apartments and look for work.

Also relying on buses: Many of the students in the Secondary Transition Employment Program. To fulfill curriculum requirements, they must attend school half the day and then report to their jobs, said Des Moines Public Schools job coach Deanna Cole.

And Kacee Harold and Scot Hoffman, who are experiencing homelessness in Des Moines, say DART is critical to them as they work to get back on their feet.

For these and many other central Iowa residents, DART services are a "lifeline," said DART Board of Commissioners Chair Russ Trimble. DART serves as the primary means to get to work, school, the grocery store and doctor's appointments.

These community members' lives could soon be upended by up to a 40% reduction in bus service should the Des Moines City Council not approve a temporary funding mechanism for DART, according to transportation officials.

DART is the state's only regional transit system, and it is primarily funded through property taxes. It faces an estimated $2.7 million deficit in fiscal year 2025 if Des Moines doesn't increase its share of funding. For the majority of public transit users, the proposed cuts would likely mean longer wait times; less frequent bus service, with some routes running only at peak travel times; and limited weekend service. It likely would result in about a third fewer passengers served, according to DART Chief External Affairs Officer Erin Hockman.

The first round of service cuts could begin as soon as November 2024, affecting nearly all local bus routes in Des Moines, Hockman said. Cuts could happen over five years.

Alternatively, the City Council could vote to increase its franchise fee, a tax on gas and electric bills, up to 2.5% to fund public transit, a step that was authorized this year by state lawmakers. That would offer, at least temporarily, a reprieve from cuts to current bus routes and service levels, according to DART.

In light of the looming city decision, DART has hosted a series of listening sessions with community members to explain the budget crisis and get feedback from people who might be impacted. Hockman said 253 people attended one of the six meetings that occurred in various locations across Des Moines and online in late November and early December. Additionally, 1,126 people gave their input on possible cuts in a DART survey, she said.

The issue has also seeped into recent City Council meetings, where dozens of community members have passionately urged council members to approve the franchise fee.

It's unclear how the council will vote on the issue in early 2024. At a mayoral forum hosted by the NAACP in October, Mayor-elect Connie Boesen, at-large council member Carl Voss and council member Josh Mandelbaum said they would support a franchise fee. They each told the Des Moines Register they still support the fee, though Boesen and Voss said it may not be the full 2.5%, and they added the council will need to have further discussions.

"But I think that we really need to have a serious conversation on DART and how we can provide services because even in a few years, there's still a shortfall," Boesen said. "So we need a longer-term solution … and (to) understand the needs of our community."

Council member Chris Coleman said he's still undecided, and told the Register he's more likely to vote to increase the franchise fee if DART can show it's prepared to "innovate and modernize" the transit system, particularly to help the most vulnerable in the community.

Council members Linda Westergaard and Joe Gatto did not immediately return the Register's request for comment.

With DART facing a potential cut in bus service, how did we get here?

Currently, 62% of DART's revenue comes from local property taxes from its 11 participating cities and Polk County, an amount that is capped by the state Legislature.

The organization in 2021 implemented a funding formula that takes into account the population and level of service in each city and Polk County. The formula is being phased in to lessen the immediate blow to city budgets.

Because Des Moines uses about 74% of the system's services, the capital city eventually will fund the bulk of what participating communities pay in property taxes — about 49%. But the city of Des Moines already has reached the maximum 95-cent property tax levy for transit, set by lawmakers, which is the driving force behind the proposed franchise fee increase.

More: DART is losing millions. Are bus route service cuts or tax hikes needed to save it?

But DART leaders have had their eye on funding concerns since 2015 and said they have scoured for alternative sources of funding for just as long. Officials proposed alternative sources of funding to the Legislature, such as a hotel-motel tax and different forms of sales taxes — all of which failed.

Additional hits to DART's budget over the past several years, such as the loss of ridership during the pandemic, rising inflation and loss of contracted Medicaid trips, have exacerbated its funding issues, Hockman said.

In fiscal year 2023, DART provided 3.2 million rides, and ridership has returned to about 75% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Hockman.

Hockman said those who most rely on DART are low-income community members, with 43% of riders having an annual household income of less than $20,000. Statistics from DART also show that 61% of central Iowans who use the regional bus system don't have a car and 57% of riders use DART to get to work.

DART: Des Moines upping franchise fee could serve as a temporary solution

The city of Des Moines has contributed $9.8 million — or about 38% of the total amount of property taxes — to DART in fiscal year 2024. But it needs to reach $17.5 million in fiscal year 2029 under the new funding formula.

The franchise fee, which was approved in the state Legislature as part of a larger tax package, applies to cities with a population of 200,000 or more. Des Moines is the only city in the state that meets that threshold. Des Moines' franchise fee currently sits at 5%, but under the new law, the city can raise it to 7.5% starting in fiscal year 2025 to reduce the property tax levy that funds the transit system.

More: Longer waits for buses, fewer routes: DART faces 40% service cut unless Des Moines pays more

A 2.5% franchise fee means a Des Moines resident with a $100 monthly utility bill would see about a $30 increase per year. It also would make nonprofits and government agencies, which don't pay property taxes, pay into DART. About 40% of Des Moines' land was tax-exempt in 2020.

Currently, an owner of a $200,000 home in Des Moines pays nearly $104 a year in property taxes to DART.

What was proposed at the community sessions?

During the six community listening sessions, DART staff, including Hockman and Chief Planning Officer Luis Montoya, painted a grim picture of the transit agency's impending cuts should the city not impose the fee. They also included background on how the transportation system got to where it is today.

At a Dec. 1 virtual meeting, Hockman presented what service would look like if the organization kept all its routes but cut frequency. Should the 40% service cuts happen, most DART routes would operate hourly, instead of at the 20-, 30- or 40-minute frequencies now in effect, she said.

"High-ridership" routes, like Routes 3, 6, 7, 15, 16 and 17, would run every day and provide 30-minute service at peak times — in the morning and evening — but would otherwise run hourly, Hockman said. Meanwhile "moderate-ridership" routes, such as Routes 1, 4, 5, 8 10 and 11, would operate hourly on the weekdays, with some Saturday service and limited or no Sunday service.

Alternatively, the organization could maintain the frequency of core routes while cutting those that are less popular altogether.

Changes to DART's services wouldn't impact paratransit services, she said.

Hockman told community members DART's listening sessions are meant to show people the "worst-case scenario," and the cuts proposed aren't set in stone. Further, it's possible that the city's transit services could end up somewhere in between if the council, for example, chooses to implement the "franchise fee in some capacity," she added.

The agency is hoping to garner feedback to help determine what services could potentially go.

Community members were also given a chance to complete a survey and encouraged to contact their local representative to share their experiences with DART. Hockman said the feedback provided by community members would be compiled and presented to the DART Board of Commissioners, as well as the City Council, to determine the next steps.

Once the council votes on whether to implement the franchise fee, Hockman said, there will be another round of public input in April.

'I take the bus everywhere': Community members say they depend on public transit

A listening session on Dec. 6 at the DART Central Station in Des Moines was standing room only. After a presentation by Montoya, questions, comments and suggestions poured in.

One woman in the audience said she worked for Veterans Affairs in Des Moines and noted that many of the patients she sees use the bus to get to and from doctor's appointments. One man asked how many audience members rode the bus to get to the meeting. More than half of the attendees raised their hands.

Walker recently moved to Des Moines from Rock Island, Illinois. She said she's still figuring out how to navigate Des Moines' bus service, which has been her primary mode of transportation for apartment and job hunting — and everywhere else.

"I have anxiety while driving," she told the Des Moines Register. "I take the bus everywhere."

Walker says that planning her schedule around the bus is critical. With the proposed frequency changes, she wonders how fast she'll be able to get from one place to another.

"It's just going to impact a lot of people," she said. "If I don't have a bus, I don't know how I'm going to get around. Ride-share is expensive …. and you have to have a credit card."

Also at the Dec. 6 meeting, Cole, the DMPS job coach, said bus service cuts would "greatly affect the independence of the group" she coaches. The students in the program, ages 18 to 21, are gaining employment experience and basic living skills. Pushing bus schedules to one-hour intervals could increase chances of tardiness, she said.

"And if we can't get to work, then they can't have a job. And their employer's not going to be like, 'Oh, sorry,' you know? You have to be on time," Cole said.

Likewise, Steve Johnson, government liaison at Broadlawns Medical Center, said the bus is necessary for many patients who commute to the medical center, which is on Hickman Road. The medical center offers an emergency room, urgent care, obstetrics and mental health services, among other care.

Johnson says patients on average take 126 DART trips to and from the facility each weekday.

"And so they're a very key partner, and they're part of the fabric of our community," he said.

Harold and Hoffman, who are both experiencing homelessness, say they regularly ride DART buses to access services from the Department of Health and Human Services, Joppa and Primary Health Care, a Des Moines-based safety net health care provider.

Sometimes, Harold told the Register, it's hard to pay the fare.

She said any cuts or frequency reduction would surely "cut into people who work," an experience she can relate to. Harold said she was fired from a job on a Fourth of July holiday because the buses weren't running. Harold said she's searching for a job.

"For the homeless people who are trying to get out and go places to make their life better, and they have no money yet, you know, they're trying to get on the bus because they have no other form of transportation," she said. "And in the wintertime, they have to walk because they can't get a courtesy ride. You have to walk and then you're facing frostbite."

Duane Bettis, 72, said he still drives but chooses not to unless it's a "dire necessity."

"I just prefer to ride public transit because, to me, it's just the way to go for the community, for the globe," he told the Register.

City manager: DART should 'not be funded solely by our taxpayers'

On Dec. 4, Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders told the Register that he wanted to correct some of the "narrative" surrounding DART's services. This isn't a "cut" in funding on Des Moines' end, he said, but rather a request for the city to add a fee to pay for DART services that no longer have the funding to continue. 

Sanders went on to say the city had pitched in one-time Park and Ride funding, on top of the maximum amount of property taxes, to give the organization time to find a more permanent funding solution, "but they weren't able to do that."

"It's not like we had a bunch of funding and we decided to pull it away," Sanders said. "We're being asked to tax Des Moines more for the same service, and that's a harder narrative to say should we tax Des Moines residents $6 million a year more for DART service or some of these things with ADAPT (DSM), public safety, Parks and Rec, Library — that's the balance that the budget has to work towards." ADAPT DSM is the city's climate action and adaptation plan.

He noted a concern that the franchise fee would cover the bus service shortfall for no more than a few years.

"The reality is, where's the end of this?" he said. "At what point does DART recognize they're providing more service than the community can afford?"

In a similar written statement on Dec. 6, Sanders added, "The City of Des Moines will continue being a partner in finding a solution to the service and budgetary issues DART has created but recognizes the solution should be sustainable and not be funded solely by our taxpayers."

Trimble called the statement unfair because it was characterized as if DART was given a chance and failed. He countered that the organization has worked toward finding alternative funding sources and becoming more efficient.

"You know, we understand the position that the Des Moines City Council is in with trying to, you know, keep costs down for their people, but at the same time, you know, we've got an essential service that we're providing," Trimble said. "I mean, that's helping people put food on the table and survive."

He said he realized that it's not a permanent solution, but it helps avoid service cuts in the immediate future, adding that the next step is looking at how DART can "reimagine" its system.

"But if we don't have a short-term solution, while we're looking to address that longer-term solution, then we're going to have to make these cuts that are going to be so devastating and impact people's lives so negatively," he said. "So I guess I'm just hopeful that they'll take a look at all of that."

During the meeting on Dec. 6, Trimble said commissioners have a simultaneous concern that suburbs will withdraw from DART should they be asked to pitch in more than their "fair share." The Grimes City Council voted unanimously Nov. 28 to exit the transit system, noting that just 13 residents have used the system despite residents paying about $645,919 this fiscal year in property taxes. The change is effective July 1, 2025.

More: Grimes council votes to eliminate bus service, cut ties with DART

"So we've got to maintain this balance," he said.

The Des Moines City Council's decisions about the transit system will happen in January or early February to work with DART's budget schedule, Sanders said.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2. 

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines residents face loss of 'lifeline' if DART bus service is cut