The 1:40 a.m. bus from Port Alden General Hospital to the east side carries eleven riders on a typical night. Nine of them are going to work, not coming home from it, according to a rider count the Ledger conducted over two weeks in September.
Route 9 is one of three that run through the night in Port Alden, and transit officials are reviewing whether to cut it as part of a budget review next spring. Ridership data shows Route 9 carries fewer passengers per hour than the two other night routes, the kind of number that tends to attract a budget committee's attention. The route costs the transit authority an estimated 210,000 dollars a year to operate, most of it driver wages for the overnight shift differential.
Who is on the bus
Driver Luis Ferreira has run the route for six years and says the low numbers do not tell the whole story. "Every one of these eleven people has a shift that starts before the day buses run. Cut this route and they are not switching to a car. Most of them do not have one.
Riders interviewed on a recent overnight run included a hospital custodian starting a 3 a.m. shift, a baker headed to Delgado Bakery's early oven, and a security guard finishing a stretch at the port. All three said Route 9 was their only way to work without a car, and two said a rideshare for the same trip would cost more than they make in the first two hours of their shift.
The transit authority says no final decision has been made and that the spring review will weigh ridership against cost per rider across the whole system, not Route 9 in isolation. A public comment period is expected to open in January, and the authority has said it will hold at least one evening meeting on the east side rather than only at its downtown offices.
Ferreira said he plans to keep driving the route until someone tells him otherwise. "I know these people's names. I know what shift they're working. That has to count for something in a budget spreadsheet.
