Hinesville’s transit system could be seeing some changes soon, after city council members adopted a transit development plan for the next five years.

The city recently concluded a study of its transit system that looked at service needs, possible improvements and what resources may be needed for modified or new services. The Federal Transit Administration requires a transit development plan be produced with a five-year horizon.

Public comments were taken through May 22 on the TDP and the responses, Rachel Hatcher told council members, were overwhelmingly positive.

“We had a very robust public and stakeholder involvement program,” she said. “Stakeholder meetings were critical to understand the goals and objectives of the community. We had a significant number of folks come and speak to us about the needs of the community, how they are using or would like to use transit if it did something to support their transit needs.”

Of the 55 comment cards returned, only one did not provide positive feedback.

“One said they would rather see it spent on parks,” Hatcher said.

The top recommendation, Hatcher added, “was they would absolutely love to see more service implemented and facility improvements.”

Among those, she said, was the creation of a transit center. Some of the key takeaways from the surveys, Hatcher said, included increased bus stops and facilities, improved access in rural areas and rider training.

“Some people didn’t know how to approach using the transit system,” she said. “We currently don’t have a central place for gathering and transferring between modes.”

A transit center could help potential riders learn about the system, including how to buy tickets and switch modes of transit from local to regional. Hatcher said riders getting real time locations of buses was also a “really high priority from the public.”

Respondents also pushed for safer bus stops that were better maintained.

Hatcher said the surveys were done to see where the target markets are and to see if the city system is reaching the areas where it is important to provide service and to see where the system should be providing service where it is not being delivered today.

“We’re in the right areas,” she said. “If we have low ridership, it is because we are providing the wrong type of service.”

Ridership numbers remain strong for the transit system. For May, Liberty Transit recorded ridership numbers of 488 for route 1, 374 for route 2 and 134 for route 3, plus another 592 on its paratransit bus. Route 3 consistently has been the route with the fewest passengers, averaging fewer than 200 a month from April 2023-April 2024. Total ridership dipped below 1,400 for June 2023 but has remained at just under 1,800 a month since February 2024 and has been on the rise since December 2023.

Council members approved an option that includes Saturday service, from 8 a.m.-7 p.m., and takes the limited fixed route in west Hinesville and Walthourville to a mobile service, where trips are scheduled 15 to 30 minutes in advance. The three current fixed routes would be truncated so they would be more frequent. They would be faster and more direct, supplemented by micro transit, Hatcher said.

Other recommendations were establishing shuttles to Midway and Riceboro for the industries located there. Hatcher said a vanpool program would provide more flexibility if there were viable partnerships. Hatcher said there is an option to partner with Fort Stewart to bring microtransit on the bus, which would require a series of agreements and memoranda of understanding. Also on the table is an after hours voucher program for Uber and Lyft.

More than 50% of the system’s funding comes from the federal government. The operating costs for 2024 are almost $1.23 million, with federal funding covering nearly $780,000.

Adding the microtransit and adjusting the three existing routes would cost nearly $1.8 million, with the local cost coming in at just over $643,000. Adding the Fort Stewart microtransit pushes the cost to $2.1 million with the local share coming in at nearly $757,000.

“The number one comment was they would absolutely love to see more service implemented and facility improvements, including the transit center,” Hatcher said.