Four transit agencies in the panhandle participated in the first ever National Week Without Driving by offering free rides October 2-8, 2023.

The participating agencies were KCTS, Open Plains Transit, Tri-City Roadrunner, and City of Sidney Transportation System. Some routes were excluded from the promotion.

For the past two years, #WeekWithoutDriving has been focused on Washington State, and this year, the Week Without Driving went national. The National Coalition for a Week Without Driving invited mobility justice advocates across the U.S. to invite elected leaders and transportation professionals in their communities, to take the challenge to better understand what it is like to not be able to drive yourself, wherever and whenever you need or want.

The National Coalition was convened by the Disability Mobility Initiative, America Walks, Access Living, and Front and Centered.

Details From Panhandle Promotion

KCTS

KCTS provided 791 rides during the promotional week and they typically average 700-750 rides per week. Of the new riders, 18 have continued to use their services. They ran ads in the local newspaper, on the radio, and on Facebook. They also spread the word about the week by talking with groups such as the senior center, county commissioners, city council, and more.

Christy Warner, transit administrator, said “A Week Without Driving is a great way to bring light to the leaders and community about the unspoken need of public transportation in rural Nebraska.”

Tri-City Roadrunner

During the weeklong promotion Tri-City Roadrunner provided 300 free trips on their fixed route buses throughout the Tri-City area. They are already considering participating in this event again next year with possible expansion to include their demand response service.

Open Plains Transit

Open Plains Transit gave free local rides only (intercity bus excluded) within the cities of Gordon, Rushville, Hay Springs, and Valentine and brought rural Box Butte County residents into Alliance (Alliance residents then needed to call Alliance Public Transit who did not participate in the free rides collaboration). They saw a 10% increase in ridership and all new riders have since continued to use their services. Ads were placed in newspapers in Scottsbluff, Alliance, and Valentine. Radio ads ran in the city of Valentine and Cherry County in the week leading up to and including the week of National Week Without Driving.

City of Sidney Transportation System

City of Sidney Transportation System had 584 passengers. An average week typically has around 450 passengers. That’s an almost 30% increase. They have kept around 10 passengers from the week. A lot of new passengers said it was a nice service and they were glad to know about it for the future. They put ads in their local newspaper and posted about it on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Kasey Kantor, transportation director, said “I think it helped us by showing more people that Sidney Transportation is not just the “handy bus,” we serve riders from four years old on up!”

Emphasizing Collaboration

Recently, Nebraska Public Transit released a “Faces of Transit in Nebraska” video about collaboration in the panhandle between KCTS, Open Plains Transit, and Tri-City Roadrunner. The video highlights how the agencies get passengers to locations in their region and into surrounding states as well.

You'll hear from managers of these agencies as they speak about the efficiency of transporting passengers to more destinations than ever before, how they used to have to turn passengers down because they couldn't leave the county or city, and how their focus is to make sure that nobody gets left behind and that they can stay independent.