Changes coming to COMET system

David Maestas has been busy preparing to expand City of Maricopa Express Transit (COMET) system general services in May. The transportation planner said inevitable growth will put more demand on the system.

So far this year, COMET is averaging 64 trips and 34 passengers a week. Its schedule is demand-response, meaning passengers call and arrange to be picked up at a certain time and place. The department itself considers demand-response to be the most inefficient transit system.

The system has two 21-passenger shuttles but only one can be used at a time in order to have a reserve during emergencies. COMET purchased three minivans, all of them seven-passenger vehicles, which will soon be on the streets.

Along with the additional vehicles, the department has prepared a fixed-route service to pair with its demand-response program. The new vans will be used for demand-response. The 21-passenger buses will be used for regional service – to Chandler and Casa Grande – and the new fixed-route schedule.

Target populations include Central Arizona College (CAC), Pinal County Public Health Clinic and senior citizens.

“We are excited about expanding our service,” Maestas said.

CAC’s Maricopa enrollment is around 500, but its expansion plans in the next decade could accommodate the equivalent of 5,000 full-time students. Maestas said the health clinic had 9,000 visits in 2014. The city also wants to increase awareness of its transit service among seniors, considered to be 55 and older. A recent poll showed Maricopa seniors mostly having a negative opinion about public transportation.

Funding for expansion and for the new minivans was approved last year. Tuesday, the city council approved the schedule for the new routes, though the stops are still tentative.

The department wants the demand-response service to be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the new fixed-route service to be Monday through Friday from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m., with a complete cycle once per hour. Maestas said it will not require additional funding.

According to department records, COMET provided 2,328 trips in 2014. Of those, 965 (41 percent) were for leisure and 710 (30 percent) were for medical services.