The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 59

This week's episode of the Mayor's Mixtape features Director of Transit Ben Valdez. Ben tells us about the new RidePueblo app available for smartphones and on the computer for real-time navigation, live updates, route planning and more. Download the RidePueblo app today and start traveling the city with Pueblo Transit.

 Plus Mayor Graham answers some listener questions. Don't forget about Discount Days with Waste Connections May 4-16 for 50% all loads for city residents, just bring your ID. Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Welcome And How To Reach Us

Haley Sue Robinson 0:06

Welcome to the 59th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I am Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.

Mayor, Heather Graham 0:14

Heather Graham, City of Pueblo Mayor.

Ben Valdez 0:16

Ben Valdez, Transit Director.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:18

Awesome. We're happy to have you as a guest today, Ben. Very excited to talk about public transit. I want to remind the listener that we're available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. And there are lots of opportunities to like, subscribe, and you can leave us a review. And don't forget, if you have questions or you want to suggest a topic for Mayor Graham, you can email us mayor @pueblo.us.

What The Ride Pueblo App Does

Haley Sue Robinson 0:47

So, Ben, we want to talk about the Ride Pueblo app. Um, we have a new app with Pueblo Transit. Tell us a little bit about it.

Ben Valdez 0:56

So, Ride Pueblo is probably 12 months in concept to execution from when we first put it all together. It's essentially an app you can download from wherever you download your apps that you can do all of your own trip planning, real-time tracking of buses in the system as they're going. The initial kick for us was that we wanted to bring ourselves into a more modern era moving forward, kind of like they do it up north in Denver. They don't really have one in Colorado Springs that's functional, so we would be the furthest south that actually runs rides a ride planning app. It cuts down a lot of the day-to-day calls. Before we launched the app, we were fielding between 100 and 120 calls a day for directions. Just where's my bus? Why is that where's this bus at? Uh, what do I need to catch to go to here? How do I get to the mall from my house? How do I get to the doctor, social security office, etc.? So we think we've cut probably 20% of those calls since the initial launch. And we're hoping to cut it further down. It's like everything else, it's like a new toy, so everybody's running with it and they're having a really good time. It works really, really well. It actually works off a landmark, so you don't even have to know the exact address. You can just type in landmarks and it'll route you through a landmark.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:11

Yeah.

Ben Valdez 2:11

And it's it's very, very close to accurate. It even routes you through all the transfer points and everything else. So it's super, super, super good.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:19

So you guys were essentially a concierge before, and I could just call you and say, Hey Ben, I'm at City Hall right now, and I need to get to and I could tell you my destination. I need to get to the north side King Soopers.

Ben Valdez 2:37

That is a fact.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:38

And people would call and say those things.

Ben Valdez 2:40

That is a fact.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:41

Wow.

Ben Valdez 2:41

There are large groups of people in the city that have the direct line to my desk, so I give directions to people all day long.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:48

So you tell them which route or what time and

Ben Valdez 2:51

everybody on my staff is a direction giver at one time or another during the day. And those calls have drastically reduced. So it's actually working out really well. Last week we went to the ADA committee and we got props from the ADA committee. They were really happy about the use and they like the way it worked out and so on and so forth. So that's one of one. That's one of one so far. We have the Transportation Advisory Committee today.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:15

Okay.

Ben Valdez 3:15

We'll see what the feedback we get out of there, but everything's been positive so far, so we're kind of excited.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:20

And does the app work the same way? Like if I don't have a smartphone, can I use it on the computer?

Ben Valdez 3:27

You can. There's also the website link off of the website. And the QR codes that are going up in all of the shelters and at the transit center and in buses.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:35

Okay.

Ben Valdez 3:36

And the QR code will take you to where it is and give you the link to the website and everything else as you go.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:41

So it's pretty user-friendly.

Ben Valdez 3:43

It is very user-friendly.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:46

So it sounds like response has been good so far. What do you think this looks like long term for public transit?

Ben Valdez 3:54

So I think this is the stepping off point for expansion. I think the next thing we want to look at with this is how we can use a fare box to its full potential, how we can enable the online pass selling so that we can try to get away from paper fair media and put everything on a phone. That way people can buy a pass one time and then just top it up. And the fare box and technology is already in the fare box.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:20

Okay.

Ben Valdez 4:20

We just have to link all the pieces so that it can make the crossover.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:25

So how would that that work? I I buy it on my phone and then I just show you my pass.

Ben Valdez 4:31

You get on the bus and you'd show it to the bus operator.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:33

Yeah.

Ben Valdez 4:33

He would hit the button to to validate it, and then you would hold it up to the fare box to the infrared light and it would activate your pass.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:42

Okay. And kind of like when I just scan a like a coupon or a code or whatever.

Ben Valdez 4:48

100%. It will alleviate a lot of the issues we have with counting cash and fare boxes and all those things that take multiple hours out of the day.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:58

Wow. Okay. Um and I know, you know, Mayor, this is something that um you you have championed having more ridership and increasing ridership because um with public transit a lot of our funding is based on our numbers. So how do you think this impacts the community or what it looks like kind of moving forward for us?

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:25

Well it's for sure gonna make it more accessible. And if it's easier, um maybe more people will ride. Um and maybe a younger generation um will think it's cool to ride the bus, right? Because then you can track the bus on your app.

Haley Sue Robinson 5:41

That's

Mayor, Heather Graham 5:43

right like,

Haley Sue Robinson 5:44

that's what I'm thinking with like, you know, our D60 students that ride the bus, our PCC students that ride the bus. Um I mean I I think of our generation, and I'm like, I'm not going on the computer to look up the route and say, okay, at 836 I get off here and then I transfer here. I I want it right there on my phone.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:07

It can also be like a a safety measure for um if you have young adults riding the bus and their parents are

Ben Valdez 6:15

you know exactly where that bus is.

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:16

Yeah, are trying to see where the bus is right, you know.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:19

Totally

Mayor, Heather Graham 6:19

Making sure that the kids on the bus first and then the bus is arriving at what time. So yeah. Um I I see a lot of great things coming from the from the app. Um will we be able to push any kind of notifications out on the app? So if it's like snow day when I am messaging you at four in the morning to see if we're gonna buses.

Ben Valdez 6:42

So we

Mobile Passes And Service Alerts

Ben Valdez 6:43

will. It'll be able a lot of the stuff that is enabled inside the app is like we can do real-time pushes for construction. Because summer in Pueblo is construction season.

Haley Sue Robinson 6:54

Yeah.

Ben Valdez 6:54

So we can load all the detours and we can tell them which stops are running and which stops aren't running on those routes on those days. We can push out our our winter route schedule when it comes to that time of the year as well. So if somebody calls in and says, Hey, I left my wah blah blah blah blah on there, we can push that out to the operator and they'll know exactly where it sits inside there without ever using the radio. So there's a lot of good possibilities for the way we can push it as we go. For us, a lot of it was looking at the the information we get to the street, how fast can we let you know there's a detour and it's not coming? Because that's a lot of what the call is is I've been waiting for 45 minutes, where's it at? And a lot of times it's just because there's a detour that went up. When the water work shows up and digs a hole, you just do what you gotta do.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:39

Well, and and so much of that notification piece that you and I coordinate is then on social media. But if folks aren't on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, and that's not their default to go check, hey, is my bus late for construction, it it's confusing. And then if you go online, you go to Pueblo.us, you're looking for the ticker at the top. Well, if if we don't know right away that information's not available essentially in real time. And I I think that's the thing that's so cool about this app is the interface, you can pull it right up and it'll tell you your bus is two minutes out. Um and then and then you're not wondering, hey Ben, why is my bus 45 minutes later?

Ben Valdez 8:27

Simultaneous information. That's the way we like to look at it. We're gonna be pushing it as fast as we get it. So if something breaks at the transit center, we'll tell you this bus is gonna be late. So look at this one to come inside to pick it up.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:38

Okay.

Ben Valdez 8:39

It's just about expanding that role of communication to make it easier for the for the community as a whole that depend on those guys to give them a ride every day.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:46

Yeah.

Ben Valdez 8:47

You pretty much know who's gonna be at what stop, so getting them the information ahead of time kind of makes it a lot easier for everybody else.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:54

And does this

Mayor, Heather Graham 8:55

like an Uber

Haley Sue Robinson 8:56

It is it that's exactly to an extent. Yeah, I mean cheaper. I don't have to pay Uber prices or Lyft or whoever you.

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:06

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:06

We don't want to hate on just one. We'll hate on all of them.

Ben Valdez 9:10

It's fair.

City Lift Plans And Community Partners

Haley Sue Robinson 9:11

Now, um, does this also work with Citi -Lift? Am I able to

Ben Valdez 9:16

So Citi -Lift would be the next module we add to it. We haven't

Mayor, Heather Graham 9:20

That's the future piece

Ben Valdez 9:21

It is, that's the future piece as we make that jump because Citi -Lift is not federally mandated to have GTS well not mandated to have tracking data per se. So when we cross that bridge in the near future, then we'll be able to add those on as well, so everybody will track everything in real time.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:36

That's exciting.

Ben Valdez 9:37

So you'll have multiple pages on the same app is essentially how it'll go too.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:41

So I can I could swipe between the two. That's amazing. Okay. Um Ben, I know we talk a lot about partnerships, whether it be you know our partnership with uh Colorado State Fair or maybe Care and Share or with the School District or with PCC. Um talk to us about what this app means for those partnerships or just transit overall.

Ben Valdez 10:07

So a lot of the a lot of the communities we were looking to enable into this process was like we're a little over a year and a half-ish into Veterans Ride Free. So we were really trying to connect the veteran community from Pueblo into the app as we push it out because a lot of those people are really, really transit dependent. As a veteran myself, Brian is a veteran, we all do the same stuff, man. We we look out for those guys because they look out for us. So getting that community, that information was really essential because they don't have a ride, and sometimes that's the only barrier between them and a job or them and school. So we're trying to alleviate those barriers. And also, as you know, we've been reaching out to CSUP to try and work some bridges out there, and we have some pretty sweet marketing ideas that we got from those guys that we're gonna unveil to some people in the next few weeks to show them how we're gonna look to push the system as a whole from that side of the community, from that generation, because they have some really, really good ideas to how to reach out to that demographic, and I think it's gonna make a difference on how our ridership numbers pick up in the in the coming year.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:17

I agree. I I think, you know, Mayor, you you mentioned it, like we're so app dependent, or I guess

Mayor, Heather Graham 11:25

There better be an app for it.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:26

Right. Like we're like app happy. We ask people, like, well, is there an app for it? And I think there's a demographic right there with um college students. If you don't have an app, they're like, Well, what are you doing? I mean, we have it for all of our food, all of our transportation, um, for our gaming, for our social media, for all the things. I feel like there are apps that I don't know exist for things I probably should have an app for. Um and so that's a group that one of the first things they asked me is, hey, do you have do you have an app? And I said, It's coming.

Ben Valdez 12:02

But even the ideas they push to us about how using their social media preferences and what you put on there, what's going to grab their attention versus what they just scroll through because they don't wanna they don't want to bother. So it gives you a different perspective on how to grab it. And I think it was really interesting to hear that side of it.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:21

Our attention span is limited. Okay,

Download Tips And Landmark Search

Haley Sue Robinson 12:26

uh what else do we need to know about public transit?

Ben Valdez 12:31

So

Mayor, Heather Graham 12:32

How do you get the app? Tell us.

Ben Valdez 12:34

So you can download your app, any app store on a smartphone. You can download it. It's on off of the link off our website for the desktop version, which is on the internet.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:43

Yep.

Ben Valdez 12:43

And it's free to download. And if you have any troubles, you can still call. Because most people have my direct line. You just call me.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:50

Yeah.

Ben Valdez 12:50

I answer, and we'll have a conversation and figure it out.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:54

It is really easy. I I think I downloaded like a minute.

Ben Valdez 12:58

Yeah. It was fairly quick.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:00

No big deal at all. Um and it's very easy to to use. Like I said, you can it literally just says my location. I don't even have to say that I'm at City Hall, it already knows. And then um you can plan whether it's like the quickest route or you could say I have to be there at two o'clock and it'll plan that way too.

Ben Valdez 13:22

The CAB confused it for a while.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:24

Oh, I bet.

Ben Valdez 13:25

Because it was still referred to, it was still looking for PBR.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:27

PBR.

Ben Valdez 13:27

It wouldn't pick up CAB, it would take a pickup PBR.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:30

That's funny. But I do like the fact that it has landmarks. Like I can just put City Park in there. Um, I could just put downtown, um, and it'll it kind of gives you a couple options. Even like midtown. I don't even have to put like midtown shopping center just as well. It'll come up. Yeah. Cool.

Ben Valdez 13:48

That's what they use for the ADA. They were using it out of midtown because they go over there. So it was that's what they were pretty amazed about. They were like, we didn't know what the street was, but we knew the location. It was like, there we go, we're ready.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:59

Well, and I feel like a lot of us in Pueblo um we're not necessarily using like Abriendo when we're talking about Dutch Clark, you're not like, oh, you're gonna be on Abriendo Avenue uh and then you'll find Dutch Clark on your right hand side. You're just like yeah, Dutch Clark is down there, it's kind of across from the levee, you know. Like we use landmarks to describe where you're going. So it makes sense that I would be able to use landmarks in the app. Cool. Anything else you want to share with us about Pueblo Transit that anyone and everyone needs to know?

Ben Valdez 14:32

So

Later Night Microtransit Teaser

Ben Valdez 14:33

standby for expansion news in the not too near future.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:37

Okay.

Ben Valdez 14:37

All we're waiting on is contracting with CDOT.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:42

Okay.

Ben Valdez 14:42

Then we'll have funds and we'll be ready to go into a little bit of later hour microtransit expansion for the remainder of the year when we get it.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:52

That's a little teaser there.

Ben Valdez 14:53

Into next year. So we're trying to bridge the gap to about 8 30, 9 p.m. to give people a little bit better options. It may be a little bit higher ticket price, but it'll be an option until 9 p.m.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:07

Still cheaper than Uber or Lyft.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:09

True.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:11

Okay, cool. Well then we'll have to have you back for uh that announcement. That's exciting. Cool. Um thank you for joining us this morning, Ben. We appreciate it. Um

Quick City Council Recap

Haley Sue Robinson 15:22

Mayor, we don't have a ton to go over from last night's uh city council meeting. Um it was a pretty short agenda. We got done early. Uh we had approvals for a quit claim deed with Habitat for Humanity, uh funding for the employee health clinic, um, approval for DOC work for parks, for tree trimming, and assistance with Fountain Creek and Arkansas River. Was there anything that you wanted to talk about for the city council meeting last night?

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:52

I think it was covered. Short and sweet.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:55

It felt kind of straightforward and just business.

Mayor, Heather Graham 15:59

It was a really nice uh proclamation to Candace Tarvella.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:04

Yeah, that was a really nice proclamation. And um we'll have that featured on our social media on May 21st. That's when the uh proclamation is for, but it was great. Uh a lot of her family was there last night.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:18

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:18

Yeah. Uh

Listener Questions On ARPA And Leadership

Haley Sue Robinson 16:20

mayor, we have a couple of questions from the listener.

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:23

Oh. Um I didn't read the script today, so

Haley Sue Robinson 16:26

it's okay. I I know you I know you can answer these, so I'm not worried about it. Um is it possible for ARPA interest dollars to go toward curb, gutter, and road repairs?

Mayor, Heather Graham 16:38

Yes. I mean ARPA interest can be used for anything that city council dedicates it to. Um we took a large sum of it, the remainder of it out um for the shelter recently. So um it just kind of depends how the money is being spent in the account right now. Um it's not gaining as much interest as it previously did. Um there's a few thousand in there at this point, so you wouldn't get very much curb and gutter and roadway done, but um the city does have specific funds in order to do curb gutter and roadway. Um so I would probably suggest not to use ARPA interest um because we do have other funds.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:29

Okay. Um second question is since you have been mayor, what would you say your biggest accompl accomplishment is?

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:39

Ooh.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:40

I know that one is kind of tough, huh?

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:44

Yeah. I mean, probably to sum it up, just still being the mayor, right?

Haley Sue Robinson 17:50

Still being here.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:52

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:54

I don't think that's what you told me last week.

Mayor, Heather Graham 17:57

I don't remember. But that's what the answer is this week.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:59

Oh, okay. Alright. It can change.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:01

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:01

That sounds great.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:02

Oh, because it like encompasses everything, right? Like if people were truly that upset with the job of the mayor or the job that I would have been doing or am doing, they would have canned me in November, right?

Haley Sue Robinson 18:16

And we had a couple opportunities to potentially, yeah.

Mayor, Heather Graham 18:19

And they didn't, so um, I would say in the end, that's a success. And people obviously must be thrilled with what's going on in the community.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:31

Okay. That sounds great. Um

Spring Cleanup And Town Hall Dates

Haley Sue Robinson 18:34

we have a couple upcoming events. Uh reminder from last week that the city partnered with Waste Connections May 4th through May 16th for spring cleanup for discount days. So you can still take advantage of that through Saturday of this week. That's a 50% discount for residents on whatever your load is, uh solid waste, trash, yard trimmings, mattresses, box springs, all accepted. Um you do have to cover them and secure the load to receive the discount. And waste connection, southside landfill hours are Monday through Friday from 7 to 5 and Saturday from 8 to 1. Uh no appliances, electronics, liquids, paint, tires, hazardous waste, construction, demolition, or roofing materials.

Ben Valdez 19:18

Do you have to have a voucher or a bill?

Haley Sue Robinson 19:20

You have to have a city uh um you have to have your ID or a utility bill that shows that you live within city limits. Thanks for the reminder, Ben. Good job.

Ben Valdez 19:31

I'm just asking because I gotta go.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:32

Yeah, I know. And it's discounted, so it's affordable. Um we also have some upcoming town halls with you, Mayor. Um, those are starting at the end of May. So Wednesday, May 27th at the City Park George Williams Banquet Hall, Tuesday, June 2nd at Rawlings Library, Brett Kelly A Room, uh, Thursday, June 11th at the YMCA, and Tuesday, June 9th at Lucero Library. And we'll have more information about those coming up, but wanted to get those on everybody's calendar. Um anything else that I'm missing for events?

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:12

I don't think so.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:13

Feels like we've got lots going on. It feels like every weekend there's some event downtown or in a park or

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:21

yeah, went Wednesday night. We'll be at Pillars Park for

Haley Sue Robinson 20:25

Oh yeah, the Meet the Artist.

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:26

Yeah, meet the artists, the murals.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:28

Yeah. Um, that'll be great. And it's hot this week too.

Mayor, Heather Graham 20:34

88.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:34

Yep. Okay. Well, uh, thanks for a great episode. I want to remind our listeners you can email us with questions or topic suggestions, mayor @pueblo.us. Find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Buzzsprout, wherever you get your podcasts. Download the transit app wherever you get your apps. If you're an iPhone or Android user, smartphone user, um, go to the app store, it's free. And please like, subscribe, tell your friends about the podcast, and we'll see you next week.