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data over the past six months, since the last quarterly update, showing a comparison from last year’s ridership 55 numbers. The total ridership last year was 55,413 riders. Ridership grew to 61,297 riders this year, even with fewer 56 hours on the fixed routes of the Hillsborough Circulator and the Hill-to-Hill Shuttle. There was growth in ridership on 57 both of these routes in FY2016-2017. The major 2015 change in the Hill-to-Hill route increased the hours from 3 58 hours/day to 12 hours/day, which changed the tracking. However, Staff tracked passengers in a “per hour served” to 59 maintain a proper comparison. The Circulator has 8 to 9 passengers per hour compared to peer counties, which see 60 a ratio of 3.6 passengers per hour. The Hill-to Hill-is less than that but is still growing, especially once the “Go Pass” 61 was added in September 2016, resulting in increased passengers (over 2 passengers per hour). Staff expects these 62 numbers to grow. Mr. Murphy said that due to consolidations, fixed route transit services are running fewer hours with 63 more passengers per hour during operation. Mr. Murphy went through various graphs and charts on passenger data. 64 65 Art Menius said that he was curious about the big spike in passengers on the Circulator in February and wondered 66 if Peter Murphy knew why this happened. 67 68 Peter Murphy responded that he has not looked into it yet. 69 70 Art Menius replied that he hoped there would be a spike again. 71 72 Peter Murphy said that the department had planned more services for a long time but not all of them have been 73 implemented. As an update, Staff is interviewing drivers now. They plan to roll out services in the order presented 74 on the slide in the presentation (Efland Hillsborough Commuter Loop, Orange Alamance Connector (mid-day US-70 75 service), and Rural Zonal routes). 76 77 Abigaile Pittman asked if everyone remembered the Rural Zonal routes. 78 79 Alex Castro asked Staff how they are marketing the routes and how they are alerting the public online that new 80 routes are coming. 81 82 Peter Murphy answered that once they have a set date, the information will be publicized. He said that Staff would 83 discuss media, marketing, and the new logo later in the presentation. 84 85 Jenn Sykes asked for more information on the Rural Zonal routes. 86 87 Peter Murphy said that Rural Zonal routes are deviated fixed routes set to go 2 days a week into different sections 88 of the County (northeast, northwest, southern zones, etc.) on certain days of the week. Riders can also call and 89 schedule a ride 2 days in advance for a discounted rate. This is adding more services to rural areas that do not 90 currently get service, except for rural residents that use transit to make medical trips. 91 92 Peter Murphy continued the presentation by turning it over to Theo Letman. 93 94 Theo Letman presented staffing information. He said the department was able to get more staff positions approved 95 through this year’s budget. Now there are 5 full time bus driver positions added to the total operator roster. Staff is 96 continuing to interview candidates and plans to finish hiring new drivers by the end of the month. New drivers are 97 going through orientation and training for the new routes and regular service. Mr. Letman said that when he first 98 came to Orange County, he noticed that there was no official Transit Dispatcher position. Instead, there were 99 drivers that were assigned to do dispatching work, which causes internal conflict. The Board of County 100 Commissioners (BOCC) just approved a Transit Dispatcher position, classified as a supervisor level position 101 dedicated to operations. Additionally, through a transit-demand grant, Brennan Bouma secured funding for a Transit 102 Demand Coordinator position. The person in this role will provide transit options to the public by educating the 103 community and marketing the department’s services. It will be housed out of the Orange Public Transportation 104 Department. The Transit Demand Coordinator position is common in most transit departments and is often funded 105 through a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant. 106 107 Heidi Perry asked if they had trouble filling the bus driver positions. 108 4