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Serving Topeka, KS, the state’s capital city, Topeka Transit
provides fixed-route service with 51 buses and, in addition,
operates both paratransit and demand and response operations.
The transit system serves the greater Topeka area that has an estimated
population of about 124,331.
“Our Evening and Sunday Service is a demand and response operation
that is similar to a general public taxi,” said Topeka Transit
CEO Janlyn Nesbett-Tucker. “Our fixed-route service runs from
roughly 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. In January, we are
planning to significantly trim some of our more unproductive routes.”
The Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority (TMTA) was created in
1973 by a vote of city residents. Since its founding, Topeka Transit
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has grown from a small, privately
owned bus service into a system that
has garnered recognition as one of the
most efficiently run in the nation.
According to the TMTA, of the transit
systems operating in capital cities in
the United States, Topeka Transit
ranks high in efficiency.
“In spring 2010, HDR Engineering
performed a comprehensive
operational analysis and
found that, compared
Topeka Transit CEO
Janlyn Nesbett-Tucker
to our peers in the
Midwest region, we are
one of the most efficiently
run systems,” Nesbett-Tucker said.
While many business, industry and transportation
entities have suffered during the
recent recession, some were hit worse than
others. Such has been the case for Topeka
Transit.
“We have significant issues with funding,
as do many transit systems,” Nesbett-Tucker
said. “We are kind of a poster child when it
comes to dealing with scarce funds. For 16
years we operated without a property tax
increase, but that came to a head in 2009.
Since that time, it has been extremely difficult.
We strive to provide the very best service
possible — service of which a capital city
could be proud.
“In light of financial challenges with
scarce available funds and reduced tax revenues,
it is very, very tough. We have cut
service more than 30 percent during the
past two years. That doesn’t come without a
price, and the price is loss of ridership.”
Indeed, Topeka Transit is facing a kind of
“Catch-22” situation that often confronts
public transportation entities in that lack of
funds means reduced services. Reduced services
often translate into a decrease in ridership.
State and federal funding formulas are
determined, in part, by ridership.
“It is a downward spiral that we are really
grappling with,” Nesbett-Tucker said. “We do
not do any marketing, which makes it
extremely difficult to let people know what a
good deal we are.”
One of the unfunded needs Topeka Transit
faces is updating its fleet. The entire fleet,
including paratransit vehicles, is eligible for
replacement in 2012. One bit of good news is,
the transit system was able to replace 16 vehicles
by way of the $4 million in ARRA funds
it received.
“In the past, we were successful in securing
earmarks for bus replacements, capital
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