Door 2 Door Rides Continues to Grow

The Door County Public Transit System, a.k.a. Door 2 Door Rides, has grown quite a bit since its inception in August 2010, adding a northern service area and connector runs to a taxi ride-share program that largely focused around Sturgeon Bay.

In its third year, officials are hoping to grow the system again by adding another taxi, more connector runs between the north and the south, and more service areas.

“Our plan is to…drop that south boundary at the Town of Gibraltar to County E and then push that across all the way to Lake Michigan so it includes Baileys Harbor,” said Door County Department of Social Services Director Roger Tepe at a Sept. 18 hearing on the public transit system.

Tepe also said the addition of a new taxi – the system’s sixth – would allow for the creation of a mid-day connector run between north and south.

“Right now if you’re going north or south you’re stranded for about five hours before you can come back,” said Tepe. “[This will] cut your time on either end of the north or south zone in half, and we think that will help some in terms of comfort for the passengers.”

Anyone who’s willing to pay a fare can use the Door County Public Transit System to traverse either Sturgeon Bay or the county. To travel in Sturgeon Bay, adults pay $3 per ride, and children, seniors, and those with disabilities pay $1.50. For rides farther north or south of the Sturgeon Bay service area, the rates are doubled.

Besides the additions, which may also include a new student fare for college-aged adults, the public transit rates and schedules will stay the same in 2013, and the system will continue to be operated as a partnership between the Door County Senior Center bus, the Sunshine House bus, and Abby Vans, which is based out of Neillsville, Wis.

Tepe said riders were slow to start using the system in Northern Door, but warmer weather brought more passengers along with it.

“The first couple months we were in Northern Door I was sweating,” said Tepe. “But they’re coming up now. This August was 150 riders.”

County board member Hugh Mulliken asked Tepe how close the system was to its goal of getting 120 riders per day. Tepe said the system meets that goal on some days, but demand is sporadic.

“Because this is public transit, there are really no guaranteed rides,” said Tepe. “In the month of August we had one week that was the highest I’ve ever seen. We had 609 riders across the system; we had four days out of five where we had over 100 riders.”

Several groups and individuals showed up to the hearing, and most had good things to say about Door County’s fledgling transportation system.

“One of our county-wide goals is to continue to increase transportation in the county,” said Amy Kohnle, Executive Director of United Way Door County. “We’re very pleased with what’s been going on, and then the three, possibly four new areas, Roger outlined all fit into potential growth.”

Pam Busch, Mobility Manager of the Door-Tran transportation information service, was proud of how far the county’s system has come since planning began in 2006.

“I think it’s wonderful that an additional taxi is coming to the Sturgeon Bay area,” said Busch. “We really track unmet needs, and with the closure of the taxi part of the Door County/Green Bay shuttle…a lot of folks that I met with today weren’t sure they were going to get to their employment on time because of Door 2 Door rides in Sturgeon Bay being so overwhelmed and used.”

Prior to the creation of the Door County Public Transit System, local taxi companies like Island Hopper Taxi and Door County Taxi offered rides within Sturgeon Bay. Because the county’s public transit is subsidized by government funds it’s able to offer lower rates than either of those businesses could, which drew customers away and caused those businesses to shut down.

“Going head to head with us is challenging because we’re subsidized. It’s not meant to be mean, but it’s a fact of life because they have to charge a full fare and we don’t,” Tepe said in an interview. “We’re trying to keep out of certain areas like long-distance rides or after hours. We want to leave some opportunities for private businesses to pick up.”

Sturgeon Bay City Clerk Stephanie Reinhardt says there has been an unofficial inquiry into what it would take to start up a new taxi service in Sturgeon Bay, but no official paperwork has been filed.

When asked if the county has any other future plans for the public transit system, Tepe said it really depends on what kind of feedback he hears from those using the taxis.

“We need to know where the demand is,” he said. “The system is only two years old, and as systems go, that’s really very young. We’ve still got a lot to deal with as far as where and how we go from here.”