Better Bus Blueprint at Two Months

DULUTH, Minn. –It’s been nearly two months since the Duluth Transit Authority made major changes to its system. It added two new “GO” routes and consolidated many of its local stops.

On October 29 the DTA will announce updates to its system.

But, it’s not been Easy Street. Detours and keeping track of where the detours are have been a problem.

Fournier said “One of the big issues that we have and I know a lot of folks can sympathize, not just with DTA with everybody is the historical level of detours we had in the 36 years.”

Staffing is another issue the system is facing, and working hard to correct. “The DTA, not unlike other agencies is facing some staffing challenges in an effort to eliminate any confusion or missed trips”” said Fournier. ”The last thing that we want is to make service adjustments the day of.  So we are looking out in forecasting and to mitigate that, we’re going to suspend some weekend routes.”

Fournier says DTA is 10 to 15 drivers short but points out that new drivers will begin training in early November.

The new Blue and Green lines that run every 15 minutes, are the key parts of the new system and have been very well-received. The success of the Blue Line that runs from West Duluth to downtown has led to capacity issues on some trips. Fournier says the time between trips on the Blue Line may be 20 minutes.

Passengers we talked with were happy with the change. One rider said “It’s just fantastic, People just need to learn the ins and outs of it and they’ll love it all day. A second rider told FOX 21, “Well so far, the DTA is doing a great job!”

Adapting to change is difficult and the bus service is not an exception. “We are fully confident that as the system starts to mature a little bit as we get to six months and 12 months out, the folks are really going to appreciate the high frequency that it offers,” said Fournier.