If you’re going to consolidate the community’s social services on a campus four miles from the city center, transportation must be a priority.
The sentiment predates the launch of Hazel’s House of Hope in the former Ramada Inn hotel on Scott Avenue, but the question of how best to get people to and from the available food insecurity, addiction and homelessness services remains as valid as ever.
Currently, Mountain Line provides rides for free on its Don Knotts route — not just for individuals going to HHH, but for anyone going anywhere on the route, which travels from Mountain Line’s Westover hub to downtown Morgantown, then out to Scott Avenue, to the Hornbeck Road Walmart, and back.
The trips have been free for riders since September 2021, but there is a cost involved and it’s based on use.
In 2021, 22,412 trips were provided — 9,506 of which came in the four months after the normal 75-cent fare was eliminated. Mountain Line charged $25,000 for the service based of the route’s historic ride data. A group of contributors, including the city of Morgantown and Monongalia County, came together to cover the cost.
In 2022, with free ridership in place, the number of riders jumped to 45,744.
Morgantown Community Resources (MCR), the nonprofit that serves as landlord and facilitator for HHH, was able to obtain a grant to cover the $34,428 cost to keep the service going in 2023 (45,744 rides x 75 cents).
But the numbers nearly doubled again in 2023, with 87,442 trips provided.
In March, Mountain Line General Manager Maria Smith told local stakeholders it would take $65,646 to keep the route free past the June 30 end of the fiscal year.
She also said the remedy was becoming unsustainable and was not representative of the actual need.
A short time later, the city of Morgantown put up $33,000 to keep the route free until a new solution could be put in place.
That solution, the single-ride Access Pass, could roll out as early as November.
“The Access Pass program is being developed to provide information on where to find social service agencies, what services they provide, how to get to each agency and a transit pass to get people in need there. This pass will be distributed in a way that will allow easy access for people in need to get to the social service agencies who can help. The single-ride pass would provide access to all of the local routes including Route 50 Don Knotts,” Smith told The Dominion Post.
The passes will be sold at a discounted rate of 67 cents. It’s expected the city of Morgantown will be a major purchaser alongside the nonprofits riders are trying to access.
According to Smith, the nonprofits can then assist individuals in determining if they qualify for any of Mountain Line’s other programs. For example, fare is 35 cents for a rider with Medicare and free for individuals in the Military Appreciation Pass program.
Smith said the proposed Access Pass is a step to help the transit authority get a handle on what the need actually is and tailor an appropriately scaled solution to address it.
Not everyone is convinced.
Morgantown City Councilor Danielle Trumble, who represents the body on the MCR Board of Directors, said the program is a “repackaging” of a physical pass program that’s already available and already proven inadequate for this purpose.
“We’re not really looking at anything new. We already have the ability to purchase these passes and get people where they need to go,” she said when Smith explained the program back in June.
Mark Nesselroad addressed the Mountain Line Transit Authority during its September regular meeting.
While Nesselroad is the MCR president, he said he was speaking as an individual. He congratulated Smith and the board on Mountain Line’s strong financial reports as well as the recent renewal of the county’s transit levy.
“On the opposite side, most of the nonprofits providing services in our community, including food, shelter and wraparound services, depend solely on grants and the goodwill of our community and foundations. They’re struggling financially to meet the needs of the clients they serve,” he said.
He later added, “There is no reason why this levy-funded organization needs to charge nonprofits for bus service for this needy segment of our population.”
Nesselroad said Mountain Line could meet the need through its existing Property Tax Bus Pass program.
Touted as an effort to provide a direct return to taxpayers and boost public transit ridership, the program allows an individual who pays $1-$1,000 in taxes to claim a pass for free bus access. Between $1,001 and $2,000 paid in taxes would make a second pass available, and so on.
Employers and landlords can claim the passes and give them to their employees and tenants by providing the individual’s information to Mountain Line. The passes do not expire but are reviewed annually.
Nesselroad said the taxes paid on his various holdings would qualify him for at least 495 passes, which he would like to be able to transfer to nonprofits for distribution. He believes other community members would likely do the same.
Smith said it’s not that easy.
“If a pass were to be donated there would be no confirmation process. Passes could be lost, sold or given to others and there would be no tracking for them. This would be an overarching solution that would not specifically target those in our community who need to get to social service agencies,” she said. “We would also not have the data to see what the need actually is in order to develop a program that could be funded by a grant or other means.”
Nesselroad said he believes Mountain Line could make it work. He also said his comments were not meant to stir controversy, but spur along a solution.
“My concern is we have a transportation gap for homeless folks and folks who can’t afford transportation which hinders access to services provided by nonprofit entities and others at low or no cost,” he said.
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