Hop on the Bus: Proposed Route Would Connect Kearney, Hastings & Grand Island

Public transportation options in rural areas are limited, but Nebraska officials are working to leverage federal funding to establish bus routes between Kearney, Hastings and Grand Island.

A few dozen Nebraskans eat lunch together each day at the Peterson Senior Activity Center in Kearney. Many of them drive here, even if they'd prefer not to.

"I have no choice," said Lee Sanks. He doesn’t often have to leave Kearney, but when he does, driving is his only option.

"I’d definitely use a bus to go to the VA," Sanks said. "Oh heavens yes, because I don't like drive at night and I have early morning appointments."

The Peterson Senior Activity Center in Kearney hosts a lunch each week day. (Becca Costello, NET News)

A bus ride from Kearney to Grand Island or to Hastings may be a reality in the near future. Nebraska Public Transit, a program from the Department of Transportation, is planning an inter-city bus route to connect the tri-cities.

Statewide Mobility Manager Bill Bivin says his goal is to get Nebraskans where they need to go — and that can be challenging with Nebraska’s rural and aging populations.

"We know that we're going to have a higher number of individuals who cannot drive or choose not to drive, or maybe their license gets taken away, due to medical reasons or just the effects of aging," Bivin said.

But that’s just one demographic that could benefit from the project. About 4,200 people commute between the three cities every day for work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Then there’s the University of Nebraska Kearney and Central Community College with campuses in all three communities.

"Maybe you live in Grand Island but the program you really want to take is in Hastings; how are you going to get there?" Bivin said. "If you're a young person and you don't have a lot of employment history, and you're not making a very high income, that can be a real difficulty trying to get there."

Or maybe you’re just looking for a little entertainment, like Anna Schroeder of Kearney.

"I would just go to shop," Schroeder said. "I definitely would use that because I don't like driving out of town."

And that all adds up to a potentially large impact on the economy.

"It is a training, education opportunity, it's an employment opportunity, but it's also a retail distribution opportunity," said Randy Kissinger, Regional Manager with the Nebraska Department of Labor. "It would give individuals, maybe they'd have limited transportation, the opportunity to come to Grand Island and shop, to Kearney to shop, to Hastings to shop, thus expanding the retail trade in the area."

Kissinger says with really low unemployment in the area, it’s tough to fill jobs. A reliable ride to work would go a long way to filling those positions.

"I cannot drive 60 miles a day if I don't have to if that job already exists where I live with multiple opportunities," Kissinger said. "So how can we, in those small rural, outside of a metropolitan area communities, keep, grow and retain our kids?"

Between all the possible reasons for taking a bus between the communities, Nebraska Public Transit estimates up to 70,000 rides each year – and they’re confident there’s enough demand to sustain the project.

Corrine Donahue is a Senior Transportation Planner at Lincoln-based Olsson Associates, the group conducting a feasibility study for the project. She’s been leading public feedback meetings in each community for the past few months.

Donahue says the Buffalo County population is expected to grow 21% by 2050, with populations in Adams and Hall counties remaining steady.

"The good news from the transit perspective is that we see steady growth," Donahue said. "We know there’s a demand today [and] it’s not going away."

And there are very few public transportation options currently in these communities. In Hastings and Kearney, for example, you can schedule a spot on a RYDE bus – that stands for Reach Your Destination Easily.

"We operate public transit to get individuals to work, medical, social appointments, anything that they might need to go to," said Charles McGraw, RYDE transportation director.

He says the curb-to-curb system is really convenient. The bus picks you up at your front door, and drops you off directly at your destination. The trade-off is that you have to schedule the pick-up at least 24 hours in advance.

But McGraw says RYDE would perfectly complement an inter-city bus route.

"Hopefully, our operation will really help to get some of those individuals to the bus stop or to those buses to make that connection," McGraw said.

But perhaps the biggest question is still uncertain: who’s going to pay for this?

"It never hurts to try," said Jenny Brandorff at the Peterson Senior Center. Her husband replied skeptically: "Unless it's expensive to try and then doesn't work."

The bus routes would cost between $1.4 and $2 million to operate. But a big chunk of that would be subsidized by federal funding specifically intended for rural intercity buses.

Each year the state receives federal funding earmarked for rural transportation projects. Of that funding, 15% is supposed to be used on intercity bus projects linking non-urban areas (under 50,000) or non-urban to urbanized.

The state has had more than a million dollars available for that purpose each year for the past seven years – but we’ve only been able to spend a few hundred thousand each year on intercity bus projects, because there aren’t many in the state right now. That means most of the funding for the project is really stable.

Source: Nebraska Department of Transportation. Graphic: Infogram.

Statewide Mobility Management Director Bill Bivin says they’re working on a final report to present to the Department of Transportation in March.

"At that point, we'll be able to put some real concrete dollar amounts to like, okay, here's the federal portion, here's the state portion, and then here's what we are actually going to be needing from each of these communities," Bivin said. "And at that point, we'll really start trying to assemble that coalition of funding partners to make this go."

Anna Schroeder thinks people will support the idea, even if they’re unfamiliar with public transportation.

"I think they'd be real excited," she said. "Unless they've dealt with it before, they don't know the convenience of it."

Locals say they hope the intercity bus routes are the first step toward a more robust pubic transportation system in central Nebraska.

Nebraska Public Transit is accepting public feedback on the plan online here. The survey is open through December 20.

Nebraska Public Transit is also conducting feasibility studies for a Lincoln/Omaha intercity bus route, as well as several other projects.