As shown in the chart, COVID 19 continues to impact Sandy Transit ridership. Ridership did show a slight increase in 2021 over 2020, until snow storms hit in December.
January ridership exactly reflects January 2022. In January 2022, SAM provided 6,014 rides whereas January 2021 SAM provided 5,947 rides.
During the snow storms, SAM continued to operate, never canceling an entire day. SAM Gresham ran hourly rather than every half hour, SAM rides and Elderly and Disabled out-of-town medical rides were for life sustaining trips only such as dialysis, prescription pick up and cancer treatments. The Shopper Shuttle was suspended for a few days, as people had the option to schedule with SAM rides if it was life sustaining.
SAM and MHX continue to experience the driver shortage that many agencies have faced over the past year. MHX continues to have the biggest challenges of retention due to the stress involved in the steep grade (Timberline Road) and the weather. Two full time MHX drivers quit in January, forcing all drivers and dispatch to struggle to cover all the shifts. This puts stress on both services, although currently MHX is the only service canceling runs. SAM’s dial-a-ride programs, however, are also down to one driver causing scheduling difficulties and low ridership in those programs. Currently, drivers are often faced with 6 and 7 day work schedules, a trend that is not sustainable.
MV has sent drivers from Redmond, WA to help cover the MHX shifts and 3 drivers have been hired. The new drivers though will need to be trained and obtain CDLs, a process which will likely take 3-4 months.
SAM is currently speaking with vendors to procure an all electric SUV to be used as a shift change and service vehicle, sometimes employed to pick up passengers during inclement weather but not very often. Currently SAM uses a hybrid SUV (Ford Escape) for this purpose. SAM has already secured grant funding for the replacement which is enough for a fully electric SUV and the charging infrastructure required. No match is necessary with the grant funding. Because the vehicle needs to be all wheel drive (AWD), SAM is currently looking at Tesla Model Y or Ford Mach E.
In January, SAM posted an Request For Proposals (RFP) for a new contract for real time arrival information (currently DoubleMap is the vendor) and data collection. The County, Canby Area Transit and South Clackamas Transit District are all included in the RFP to explore savings through the addition of capital equipment purchased and save time for all agencies involved by reducing the need for each agency to go through a procurement process. Bids are due February 23, 2022.
All Clackamas County transit agencies continue to work together, meeting weekly, to find ways to collaborate, share successes and develop better services for the region. Many refer to our group of agencies as the Clackamas County Coalition and the strong working relationship we have developed has proven a successful partnership.