Duarte city council unanimously approved a motion last week to extend Foothill Transit’s fixed route DuartEBus service for another three years.
The DuartEBus currently is a local route that travels back and forth from Encanto Park, through the Royal Oaks neighborhood, down to the Duarte Metro A Line station and the City of Hope medical campus, and then through residential areas around Buena Vista Street, before going up to the Mountain Vista Plaza mall to turn around. Monthly ridership is about 2,100 rides.
The DuartEBus began operation in 2019 with two routes which were eventually consolidated into the current Line 861 in 2023. This change is saving the city $22,000 a month, or a projected $250,000 a year, according to a staff report. The service is completely funded through the 2024/25 fiscal year with $400,000 from Propositions A and C.
Assistant City Manager Kristen Petersen was tasked with determining whether the city could also tack on a limited hour, on-demand MicroTransit service with the money saved from consolidating fixed route lines. At a projected cost of $500,000 a year ($1 million for full day service), that idea is a no go.
For now, line 861 seems to be cutting it. “The fixed route system continues to provide a valuable resource of transportation to the community,” said Petersen.
City council appeared to agree with Petersen, though Councilmember Samuel Kang had a few questions about the DuartEBus’s future.
“Is there any way that this fixed route can be expanded to maybe going to Home Goods in Monrovia and so on, just to help the ridership?” Kang asked.
Petersen responded that while that’s always a possibility for the Council to explore, the existing goal of the line is to provide first/last mile connections to longer regional lines like Foothill Transit’s 187 and 272, “which do continue down Huntington Drive to exactly where you're describing.” said Petersen.
Then Kang raised another point: what will replace DuartEBus’s aging Proterra electric buses?
“And do we still need a 35 footer? Can we get something even smaller?” asked Kang. “I've never seen them full.”
Foothill Transit’s Executive Director Doran Barnes was on hand to answer.
“In my experience, the key cost driver for a transit vehicle is the coach operator and the fuel. So whether the vehicle can carry five people or 30 people, 70% of that cost is still there.” Barnes said.
Barnes acknowledged that the aging Proterra buses - known in transit circles for mechanical issues and long recharge times - won’t be hanging around forever.
“Proterra buses are certainly a bit of a challenge, and we're doing everything we can to keep them up and running and maintained, and we're leaning in very, very heavily on those two of the vehicles that are operating. There's a third vehicle that has some technical issue that Proterra is diagnosing. We're going to do everything we can to keep on the road as long as we can for you. But there will come a time when it'll be time to move on to that next technology.” Barnes explained.
Perhaps that next technology will be hydrogen fuel cells.
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