Carson City officials discuss future of public bus service

Carson City has had a public bus system since 2005, but not a lot of residents use it, city leaders pointed out during a Board of Supervisors retreat on Feb. 29.

“Most people in Carson City have never been on the bus. Is there a way to change that?” asked Regional Transportation Commission member Gregory Novak.

Supervisors met jointly with the RTC to discuss the future of the 18-vehicle bus system known as Jump Around Carson (JAC). Though no formal action was taken, supervisors provided direction to transportation staff in preparing future budgets and gave RTC members opportunities to weigh in.

Generally, supervisors concluded they don’t want to expand JAC service or significantly increase its annual general-fund subsidy. But they do want to find efficiencies in the current routes and fleet.

“I just don’t want to expand the service,” said Mayor Lori Bagwell, who also sits on RTC. “I guess that’s really what I’m getting down to because I don’t find that rate of return to be positive. I can’t find the rationale to say I’m going to double my general fund so that I can expand services into the other locations, or into adding two more bus routes or things of that nature.”

At same time, Bagwell said she didn’t want to eliminate the service for those who rely upon it.

According to data presented by Transportation Manager Chris Martinovich, there were 159,706 rider trips on JAC in 2023 – 145,233 fixed-route trips and 14,473 paratransit trips. That total is up from 144,010 combined trips in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic but still down from the 2018 peak of 223,348 combined trips.

One problem facing the bus program is the lack of data on unique riders, supervisors argued.

“We need to know how many people we’re actually serving versus the 159,706 rides,” said Supervisor Maurice White.

The city contracts with First Transit to operate JAC. U.S. Federal Transit Administration grant funds are used for operations, vehicles, maintenance and related projects, including paratransit services for seniors and disabled people. Required local matches range from 15 to 50 percent depending on the funding and use.

The challenge is finding enough local revenue to match federal funding. Before the pandemic, the general fund transfer to the program for local match funding was $400,000. In the current fiscal year, the general fund allocation is $629,800, according to documents provided for the joint meeting.

The same documents show, as projections, JAC operating costs increasing from about $1.94 million in fiscal year 2025 to about $2.25 million in fiscal year 2029. While rider fares have historically generated around $100,000 a year and reduce overall costs, they can’t be used for the local match, Martinovich told the boards.

Other than keeping apace of an estimated 3 percent growth rate in the general fund, supervisors were not interested in increasing the current general-fund subsidy to JAC. They pointed to other needs like road maintenance.

“I don’t know that I can support additional funding given the needs we have in roads alone,” said Supervisor Stacey Giomi. “Otherwise, the buses are going to be driving on dirt roads.”

Martinovich said one option to increase JAC funding is more advertising sales on buses and shelters. Advertising revenue can be used as a local match, he said. Approximately $28,242 in advertising revenue was collected in 2023, according to the city.

During the meeting, Martinovich maintained JAC provides freedom and independence for many. He said he wants the community to be aware of the service.

For information on JAC, visit https://www.carson.org/government/departments-g-z/public-works/transportation/jac-jump-around-carson.