Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
ATA Bus on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 319
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We talk with Daphne McNally from Adabus about how local public transportation connects people across Manhattan and the surrounding counties with fixed routes, curb-to-curb rides, and regional service. We also share practical tips for first-time riders plus what’s changing next, from better stops to new software and possible microtransit.
• ATA bus services across Riley, Pottawatomie, and Geary counties
• Fixed route buses plus curb-to-curb scheduled rides
• K-18 Connect regional service and how it’s working
• Why public transportation means access, freedom, and independence
• Rider patterns and the stat that 55% ride to work or school
• Stop and rider upgrades including shelters and digital sign readers
• East West Express and how limited stops speed trips
• Ridership trends and why weather affects demand
• New software plans and what microtransit could look like
• How to ride for $1, use passes, and ask drivers for help
• Using Google Maps, the Transit app, and printable route maps at www.fhata.org
Sponsor And Segment Setup
SPEAKER_01Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMTF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN.
What Adabus Does And Where
SPEAKER_01We return with the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN, and we're going to learn more today about Adibus. There's a lot of things that uh happen with that organization, and here to tell us about it is Daphne McNally, who is the Director of Marketing and Communications. And Daphne, welcome to the GMCF Community Hour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, good morning. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01We are delighted to have you here. And uh, you know, we're gonna learn a little bit more today about what Adabus does, and and we might just kind of like, you know, give get you, uh have you do us give us an overview of what your efforts are like.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I think a lot of people are learning constantly about Adibus. This is a transient community, so I like to remind people multiple times, but we are general public transportation for the localized area, so we serve Pottawatomi County, Riley County, and Geary County and the cities within that. And we do so using a fixed route system, which is buses that operate on a route that have fixed times and fixed stops that they go to every hour. And then we also have a curb-to-curb service that allows for people to call and schedule their rides ahead of time and be able to go to appointments, um, the doctor, the grocery store, whatever is needed there. And we also offer regional service, and that's our K-18 Connect. And we've seen a lot of great success with that route.
SPEAKER_01You know, we see the buses around, and it's not just about the buses, but that's a big part of what uh uh we do.
Why Public Transit Matters
SPEAKER_01But but why is there such a need in our community for public transportation?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so public transportation is, and you said it great, Dave. It's not just about the buses, it's about making everybody have the opportunity to connect to community. And so participating in public transportation is also your commute when you are walking from somewhere that you might have parked, or it's the biking to get to the bus. I mean, it's public transportation is a way to give people access to what we do in our community, and that also is freedom. It gives people independence, it allows for them to live in a like an independent lifestyle and go to the grocery store, go to the doctor, take their kids to school. And so public transportation is about so much more than just the bus
Who Rides And How Often
SPEAKER_00ride.
SPEAKER_01And you know, we see a number of bus stops. How many bus stops are there all together?
SPEAKER_00That's a great question, Dave. I haven't done a count in a while. It's well over a hundred in Manhattan. And so I know that we are constantly kind of evaluating that, but we do have quite a few.
SPEAKER_01And they're conveniently placed, you know, in areas where you have uh more riders probably than than than other areas, and you have them placed, you know, at play at you know destinations where those people need access, various stores, offices, medical things. There's a lot of things that go into that to determine where those stops go. But let's talk a bit about uh, you know, the the Adabus riders. Is there any kind of uh particular pattern that you see out of uh you know who takes advantage of Adabus?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I think this is one of my favorite questions because there is no one typical writer profile for an Adabus rider. It's really just somebody who is needing the service to be able to live their daily life. Um and so I think a great stat is that 55% of our writers are traveling to work or school. So they're really using it to go learn or to contribute to our economic system. And I think that that is who our writers are people who love our community and live and work here. And then the other percentage of writers are usually doing it to run their daily errands, to go shopping, take their kids to school, go to the doctor. And so people are it's it's everybody that you see in their car, it's the same kind of person there that's riding the bus.
SPEAKER_01You know, an Adabus became such an entity after the city of Manhattan's population reached 50,000. And that's been a few years now. And, you know, we've seen a lot of changes since Adabus really was formed, uh, you know, 10, 12 years ago. But let's talk about some of the improvements that you think uh
Upgrades To Stops And Routes
SPEAKER_01have probably had a bigger impact on the services that you provide.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that adding the infrastructure in in the last few years has been really exciting. So if you've driven around town, you've probably seen our bus shelters like on Points Avenue and then also over at Westloop, on Manhattan Avenue, and down by Aggieville, also on Fremont. And I think that adding in that infrastructure has created a great awareness of what we do and also allowed for writers to just feel more comfortable getting on board. And that's something we're actively still pursuing is to continue to add more of that. Some of our stops have um destination sign readers. So when you get to the stop, it actually will announce what stop you're at and when the bus will be there. And it has a digital sign that's solo powered that shows it too. And so I think writer amenities have been a massive change. And then also just continuously evaluating the changing community. Where do people live? Where do people work? Where do they want to go? Um, that's been a big impact for us. And so the East West Express route, that's a route we started about two years ago. It only has about eight stops total, but it gets you from Dillon's West Loop to Walmart within 30 minutes. And I think that that's been a great success also. And so we just continue to evaluate what we're doing. And our biggest, our biggest goal is to make sure that our service is best serving the community in the ways that they want it to and need it to.
SPEAKER_01Do you have an idea how many riders? I'm sure you have an idea. Sure. About what an average um ridership number may be for any given month.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I can't pull the month stop, but I know that in the last year we've seen a pretty good increase on ridership. I think we were over 150,000 rides in Manhattan over the last year. The month to month kind of depends. People actually don't ride as frequently when it's super hot out. They don't love to stand and wait for the bus in the warm temps, but we do see that uptick in ridership for sure during the fall and the winter months. And so it depends on the month, but we we've got a pretty good amount of people continuing to ride right now.
SPEAKER_01What do you foresee happening in the future with Adibus and some of the services you provide and maybe be enhanced?
Future Tech And Microtransit
SPEAKER_00Sure. So we are actually adding in some brand new software, and that will come later this fall. And we're really excited about the opportunities it will bring us. This software is going to bring our dispatching and the system we use to track the buses up into a new age. And with that, we will potentially be able to bring in some new service options, one of those being called microtransit. And microtransit is very similar to like a ride share, like an Uber or a Lyft, where riders could call and schedule their ride on the same day or even schedule their ride within an app. So this is something that we're really excited about.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, let's um let's kind of put things down a different perspective here from your writer.
First Ride Tips And Fares
SPEAKER_01And and there I'm I'm sure that there are a lot of people in that have never ridden Adabus, but let's talk about what that pop that process is like. You you've got a hundred stops. Sure. What do you need to know? And you know, you probably want to have a pretty good idea of where you're going, but and and how to get there. And and let's talk a bit about costs and everything that's associated with getting acclimated into the Adabus circle.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I always tell people, I don't think everybody knows this. And this is a great tip, just if you're traveling or even within Manhattan, but if you get on Google Maps, a lot of times you can kind of zoom in and there's this little tiny gray square that shows a bus. And that is usually your closest bus stop. And that is most of the time available in almost every community in America. And you can find the Ada bus on there too. And so I think the first thing you want to do is identify the stop that's closest to you. And then from there, uh you can walk to that stop. I always recommend being there pretty early. Um, maybe two or three minutes is a pretty good shot, just because sometimes they're running ahead of schedule. Granted, they won't leave the stop until it's time. And then it's just a dollar to ride. And so you just need one dollar in cash or coin, but you can also use a bus pass or you can use your phone to purchase a bus pass and have a digital pass on you. Then once you get on board, talk to the drivers. They're super friendly, they're there to help you. Tell them where you're going, tell them it's your first time riding, they're gonna walk you through that experience. And then if you do need to transfer, so if you want to get on a different route, they're gonna go ahead and let that driver of that other bus know that you're gonna be changing routes too. And so our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you once you're on board. Um, but what I always recommend people do is to not do it when there is maybe a time crunch. Go for your first time for ice cream or for lunch with friends and make a date of it and enjoy the experience. Talk to the drivers, talk to the other writers if you're interested. Um, you know, get to know what it is to be on board public transportation.
SPEAKER_01Just a dollar.
SPEAKER_00Yep, just a dollar.
SPEAKER_01That sounds like a pretty good deal.
SPEAKER_00We try our best to keep it affordable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Now, how can we find out more about the various uh routes that Atabus offers?
App Tracking Routes And Hiring
SPEAKER_00Sure. So I actually recommend downloading our app. There's an app called Transit, and this app is free for anybody that has a phone that can support it. And within that app, it actually shows you the buses in real time. So it will show you your closest stop. It will show you how to walk to that stop. It'll tell you, you know, you need to turn left now, you've got to walk 500 feet, uh, et cetera, et cetera. But that app is the best for locating the bus. It's gonna it'll show it'll be there in 35 minutes or in an hour, whatever it might be. And I think that that's the easiest option. But if you're not as app aversed, you can also find our route maps completely online on our website. And you can print those, you can hang them up in your office space, or you can even just take them along with you as you're writing. I think for parents, this is a super fun way to do what I call like a summer field trip. And so if you're looking for a way to get out of the house with the kids, print a route map and go plan out a day to experience the bus.
SPEAKER_01And that website is fa.org. Yes. That's pretty simple.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's we call ourselves FATA. A lot of people don't recognize FATA.
SPEAKER_01I don't know how much I'd brag about that, but that's kind of good. That's that's delightful. All right. Well, Daphne, we've got a lot of great things. Thanks for all the work. And and and you're you're doing okay on staff because I know bus drivers sometimes are are hard to find.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, honestly, we've been having a great success with our hiring in recent months. You know, we increased our wages, and so it's a great place to work. We're still going to continue to hire, but we are not as pressed for staff as we have been in the past, and that's a it's a great feeling to have.
SPEAKER_01Good, good to hear. All right, Daphne McNelly is her name. She's the director of marketing and communications. So delight to have you in talking about FATA, Flint Hills Area Transportation Authority. Have a great day.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Dave.
SPEAKER_01You bet. Yes, uh Jaina is coming in next. We're gonna talk about some things that are happening in the area. We had one just uh took place 25 minutes ago. We'll uh chat about that and some other things on the GMCF Community hour when we return in just a moment here on News Radio KMA.