DeKalb reinstates public transit bus fares after two years

DeKALB - After more than two years, residents using public transit buses will have to pay per ride, as fare returns to the city’s public transit system following recent action by the DeKalb City Council.

The city imposed a moratorium on bus fare when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in March 2020. While ridership was down as a result of the early 2020 pandemic-era lockdowns and closed businesses, the two years since have seen a return to regular routes. The council briefly considered reinstating fares in July 2021, but decided to continue the moratorium through the end of the fiscal year.

As a result, city staff recently recommended the City Council consider reinstating bus fares to what they were in 2019. On March 23, the Council agreed to reinstate the fares, effective immediately. Riders on a fixed route in the city are expected to pay 50 cents for a one-way trip, and no extra money is needed for bus transfers. Riders on a fixed route bus who have disabilities, K-12 students and older adults pay 25 cents a ride. Riders on the city’s paratransit lines must pay $1 per ride. Northern Illinois University students and children under five ride all fixed bus routes free, although the term can be misleading when it comes to NIU, DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said.

“NIU students don’t quite ride free,” said Nicklas, adding that the cost is lumped into a student service fee collected at the beginning of each school year.

“It’s one of those fees buried in that price they pay and has to do with the transit system access. So they don’t have to pay when they get on, but they’re paying in some other fashion.”

In the time since, city staff have been tracking public bus system usage, Nicklas said.

“The system is open again, buses are kept clean everyday, and we are ... aiming to operate at least as fully as we were back in 2019 prior to the moratorium,” Nicklas said. “I think we’ll probably hit that mark by the end. ... Our system does not rely on rider payments to maintain operations.”

Bus fares pay for less 1% of the cost to operate the bus system through a contract with TransDev. That amounted to about $60,000 in 2019, Nicklas said. The city expects to collect about half that now that fares have been reinstated with six months left in the year.

“Sometimes it’s useful,” Nicklas said. “Its, on occasion, provided a spare vehicle for the trips that the transit manager makes on a daily basis tracking vehicles and so forth and other things. Sometimes it’s [paid for] signage. Sometimes it’s marketing.”

Fourth Ward Alderman Greg Perkins asked whether the city might consider upping fare prices for future riders, in line with greater costs per ride reported in other Illinois cities. According to city documents, the Champaign-Urbana area, Danville, Decatur, Moline and Peoria offer public rides for $1 and paratransit routes for $2. In the Bloomington and Normal area, regular and paratransit rides are $1.25. In Springfield, regular rides are $1.25 and $2.50 for paratransit. In Rockford, riders can take a regular line for $1.50 and must pay $3 for paratransit.

“My concern is the same as many others,” said Perkins, who asked whether the city might consider a 50 cent increase in fares in the future. “I understand a lot of the costs are born by other areas, but it’s at some level. If we have additional revenue, then we’re a little better prepared to deal with inflation pressures, fuel pressures that we’re going to be seeing right now.”

DeKalb Transit Manager Mike Neuenkirchen said the city would need to go through a public hearing process in order to raise fares, according to Title 6 of the US Civil Rights Act.

Nicklas said the council could consider raising the rates as early as the 2022 holidays.