00:00:08,630	I’m Sergian Woodsky and I’m the new chair of the Bismarck Human Relations Committee, um, for those of you who don’t know what we are, we are an organization or committee appointed by the mayor and what our big goal is, is to embrace diversity in the city of Bismarck while ensuring that we are welcoming and we are

00:00:30,630	inclusive to individuals that live here as well as accessible community as well. Um, this is our 4th community conversations event that we’ve had. We had 3 last year and this is our first in 2025.

00:00:49,530	Um, this one will of course be focusing on transportation and how we will be using the money or some ideas for the money from the sales tax, um, one thing, just as a reminder as far as on the flyer that you guys got when you came in and the back of it there’s a QR code um that QR code goes to a survey that you can fill out as far as anything,

00:01:07,470	as far as. um, for the city sales tax or any other comments you have or suggestions, and that is good until May 10th, which is Saturday at 11:59, you can submit, um, different things.

00:01:27,130	First of all, I’d like to thank you all for coming out tonight, especially on this beautiful day, um, I also wanna thank those of you who are on the Human Relations Committee and in the Flyer, you had also gotten it lists all human relations Committee members that we have, but I’m gonna walk them up our two call moderators for the evening, Joan Klein and Molly McLean.

00:01:49,730	Hi everyone, and good evening, and again, thank you so much for coming and joining us. Uh, my name is Joan Klein. I am one of the newest members for the Human Relations Committee and uh we’re gonna talk about today about transit and I want to introduce Mike Taylor, and he is well, we’ll talk about the topic and um what this means for the city of Bismarck.

00:02:10,370	Thank you, and I want to echo uh appreciation for everybody that’s here this evening, especially with that nice weather and that nice wind as well. So in November of 2024, a group of Bismarck citizens asked the voters of Bismarck to elderly, disabled and people of low socioeconomic status deserve to have a means to thrive in our community.

00:02:36,100	By having access to public transportation. Nearly 60% answered yes, they do. That’s why we’re here today, public transportation was established in Bismarck in April of 1987. After 2 years of work. As costs over time increase funding was relatively flat. This resulted in service cuts. While the city grew substantially causing shortfalls in revenue and more importantly, needed services.

00:03:09,730	The voters have helped by providing enough resources to cover shortfalls and look at the state of needed services that go beyond what we have now and grow into the future as we empower people to thrive in the growing community of Bismarck and surrounding area. That brings us to where we are here now.

00:03:33,830	to innovate, grow and refine to protect the ride for the elderly, disabled, and low socioeconomic status in a manner that is right for Bismarck going into the future. We have panelists that have both social and technical background knowledge to help add content to the answers as we acquire them. And here are some of the members.

00:03:57,170	I’ll step to the side so you can see them while I mention their names. Matthew Eriko fixed rider. Susan Dingle paratransit writer. Trap, uh, Trevor Vennett paratransit writer Heather May, City of Bismarck Community integration Coordinator. Uh Cheriseronis, Bismarck Public Schools trans transitions coordinator. And I have a little bit more to share with you.

00:04:31,970	All the information will be shared with the public transportation steering committee. The members of this committee are stakeholders that play a major role in Bismarck and how access to ride, uh, to get from point A to point B makes us more connected in a thriving community.

00:04:56,530	Here are the steering committee members, Brian Ritter from Stanford, Michael Olson, protection and advocacy, myself, my Taylor from the University of Mary and it calls me a user of Transit, which is true. I rode the bus today. Mike Schmidtz, mayor of Bismarck, Dustin Garlow, uh, city, uh, and Lyft, Uber driver, Trevor Vennett, disabled advocate and public transportation user, Brendan Egel, Chamber EDC DC Daopp Downtowners.

00:05:30,200	Uh, Jaylen Chatham’s CHI Medical Center, ad hoc, uh, non-voting technical advisors or De Deirdre Hughes, Transit and Kim Ripple Metro Metropolitan Planning Organization. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mike, for explaining and introducing the transportation steering committee. Now I would like to um ask Deidre Hughes to come up, Deirdre from Transit will be speaking to us explain what transit does to our community.

00:05:59,000	Thank you, Dreer. Oh, I suppose over here, huh? It’s like where where do you want me? Hello, everyone. Uh thank you, obviously for coming and giving me the opportunity to um detail some of our services. Obviously, might covered quite a bit of the history, um, but I wanted to talk about what what services we currently offer.

00:06:21,370	Um, so right now, Bizan Transit operates 2 modes of transportation. Um, the first mode is our fixed route service. So fixed route service, we have 6 routes covering um. All of Bismarck and one route in Mandan, um, so 6 total. Um, that service operates Monday through Saturday, um, on the weekdays, it is. 7 a.m.

00:06:44,830	to 7:00 p.m. we have one route that starts at 6:30 just because of what it’s starting out at the transit facility. Um, we do not have any fixed route service on Sunday. Um, our Saturday service starts an hour later, so it starts at 8 o’clock and runs until 7 o’clock.

00:07:02,470	Um, right now I just pulled the statistics for what, um, we did for ridership in the month of April, and we had a little over 13,000 trips that we completed on the fixed rough in April, and that’s, uh, averaging about 500. Boardings per day. Um, that’s up 45% over last year’s um service.

00:07:24,570	So the fixerout service is booming as one might say, um, kind of some pain points we’ve had with that is um CDL drivers, um, unfortunately, the larger buses, we do have to have CDL drivers in those seats, um, and that can be a big challenge for us, um, giving the wages and and the longer hours to keep those. Positions filled.

00:07:46,270	Um, but obviously hasn’t hasn’t had any service suspensions this year, so we’ve been very fortunate. Um, our other mode of transportation is the paratransit, um, often interchange with demand response.

00:08:09,330	Pertransit service is a requirement by the ADA, we must have a service for the individuals who are unable to utilize the fixed r service, and it has to operate legally at the same hours that are fixed route service does. So anytime that we have a fixed route bus on the road, we need to have a mode of transportation, um, for the disabled community. Um, Previously, this service, um, was 24 hours back in 2017, it was reduced to 5:30 a.m.

00:08:33,000	to 12:00 midnight, um, Monday through Saturday, and then on Sundays we operate from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Um, with that service, we average, um, about 8000 trips, uh, per, per month, um, that service also.

00:08:55,370	Excuse me, uh, requires a 24 hour notice, so we have a lot of individuals who um want same day transportation, um, with our door to door service, our para transit service, kind of one of the pain points there is with a shared ride service that’s set up like our paratransit is, um, any time that we would provide a same day ride, we’re now shifting everyone else’s ride for that entire day and our on-time performance and our trip

00:09:12,670	duration, that is all impacted. So unfortunately, um, same day. transportation for us for the door to door service is, is. Kind of a long shot at this point, um, but we’re still, like I said, doing about 300 to 315 um trips each weekday and then, you know, somewhere around 150 on Saturdays and

00:09:34,730	closer to about 70 on a Sundays. So, uh, those are our two modes of transportation, uh, pain points obviously with our paratransit, um, we have some peak hours, um, that would be our 6 or 7:30 a.m., 8:30. 9 o’clock right in there.

00:09:57,270	That’s when everyone’s trying to get to work, to the day programs, um, appointments at those points in time, um, we do experience some capacity issues, um, obviously, um, You’ll probably hear about on time performance issues during those times or excessive time on the bus, unfortunately, the nature of the beast is we do our best to try and get everyone from point A to point B.

00:10:21,630	In a timely manner, um, without having a ton more people on the road. It’s, it’s a little bit of a challenge. And then our other peak time would obviously be from like 3:30 to about 5:30. So when everyone’s ready to get back home, we see that’s another area that we’re having. Some struggles, but we’ve improved tremendously year over year.

00:10:40,870	But If there’s any questions or anything else I can cover. I’ll also be here through the whole meeting if anyone has questions that they need answered. Thank you, Deirdre. And so, um, we’re gonna proceed with the questions for the panelists. Um, my name again is Joan Klein.

00:11:00,500	I’m with the human relations Committee, and this is Molly McLean, and I will let her introduce herself. I, as Jones said, I’m Molly McLean. I’m an engaged citizen and a proud graduate of the Bismarck Citizen Academy. I’m glad to be here. So, um, we will introduce the panelist, um. 1 2nd.

00:11:43,870	I OK, um, So I will start with Matthew Stone, Arco, and he is a fixed route writer Matthew has CPTSD and struggles with day to day life due to his childhood trauma. He is now 21 years of age and is recovering from his past and is looking forward to receiving life in a positive way.

00:12:01,970	Matthew has come a long way from where he was homeless and without nothing but a hoodie on his shoulders. He had no identification because of his family. Did nothing but harmful things to him. He disbanded from them on his own but has had no sense of freedom since he has been kept in a legal system for most of his life.

00:12:20,930	He had to navigate on his own in the legal system and it was difficult as he had two names because of his second adopted home. Matthew had anger problems in his past, but has much improved. He lives alone in disability benefits to the state and has experienced semi-peace.

00:12:44,170	He is grateful for the recent support from this community and is working to improve his overall physical, mental and emotional health. Matthew’s dream is to become a photographer, entrepreneur, and he is currently taking steps to reach these goals.

00:13:06,030	Matthew uses public transportation to get to his therapy and medical, dental and vision appointments, and he’s he feels blessed to have the bus to get to these places for free. He’s honored to be part of his panel and will share his thoughts on how he thinks about the system and how it can be improved. That And I’m glad to introduce Susan Dingle.

00:13:28,600	Susan is also a graduate of the Bismarck Citizen Academy, and I’ve heard you speak on behalf of transit in the past at City Commission. Susan is a paratransit rider, um, she’s lived in Bismarck for 30 years, retired now for about 10 years, her working career has was spent in libraries, archives, offices, and the museum store at the North Dakota Heritage Center. Her academic degrees include a liberal arts bachelor’s Business Administration, associate and bachelor’s degree.

00:13:52,470	and a master’s in library science. Susan is a passionate citizen advocate for public transportation for all. She’s a lifelong pedestrian. She doesn’t have a car and doesn’t drive, though she has driver’s license for personal identification.

00:14:13,330	She helped gather signatures for the half cent sales tax initiative, which in part benefits public transportation in Bismarck, and she serves on community transportation input commute committee. The Dakota Center for Independent Living Board and the Oser Life. Long Learning Institute at BSE Curriculum curriculum Committee and the OE Outreach Committee. Periodically, she volunteers with AARPND.

00:14:42,170	She regularly attends meetings of Bisman Transit Advisory Board, Bismarck City Commission, Bismarck Mandan MPO, the Metropolitan Planning Organization and technical advisory Committee and is a member of the Bikeped Subcommittee. She’s a member of the Toastmasters Club, where she’s given several speeches on Bisman transit, the cat fixed rout bus, and the pair transit service and the benefits of public transportation. Um, I will introduce Heather May.

00:15:08,830	Uh, he, she’s with the city of Bismarck Community integration Coordinator. Heather lived most of her life in Ohio and served as an English teacher in the Peace Corps, China from 2013 to 2016. Since moving to Bismarck in 2016, she has taught English at the middle school level in Fort Yates to residents in the GED program at the State Penitentiary and into adult newcomers at the Bismarck Adult

00:15:32,900	Learning Center in August of 2024, she accepted the newly created position of the community integration. facilitator for the city of Bismarck. The Bismarck Burley Public Health. And Cheri Ronne, is that how I say your name? Is Bismarck Public Schools Transitions Coordinator.

00:16:04,530	Sheri is the students in transition Coordinator for Homeless liaison for Bismarck Public Schools. She has been in this position for 9 years. She has been a licensed social worker in North Dakota for 25 years. All 25 years of her career have been dedicated to working with at-risk youth and their families.

00:16:23,030	She has worked in multiple positions, including a school social worker on the Standing Rock Reservation, coordinator of the South Central Juvenile Drug Court, in-home caseworker for Burley County. Social Services and a guardian ad litem for youth. And last but not least, Trevor Vannett is a pair transit rider. Trevor serves in the disability community. He advocates for transit and fights for equality for people with disabilities.

00:16:46,670	Trevor serves on the North Dakota State Council of Developmental Disabilities and the Dakota Center for Independent Living. Trevor is a past chair of the Bismarck Human Relations Committee. Thank you all for being here tonight. So, um, are you the panelist ready? We’re gonna start asking questions and we’ll just go around. Cheri can start, um, to answer the questions.

00:17:12,800	So the first question is, what challenges do you or those you serve experience as it relates to access accessibility, accessible transportation in the city. I’m gonna ask that again. I’m sorry. What challenges do you or those you serve experience as it relates to access accessible transportation in the city.

00:17:36,400	So the families and students that I serve, um, are considered to be homeless, and so, um, I work with the families as well as the students. My primary job is first the student and their education, um, and one of the biggest barriers that they see or experience is that of uh transportation, um, families not having either their own vehicle or the means to drive the vehicle, no license, no

00:17:58,670	insurance, those kinds of things, and, um, you know, Something that we’re all experiencing in the world today is a lack of bus drivers and so BPS has um changed their ways as far as changing bell times and things like that to help with that situation, um, on our end for, for bussing for

00:18:18,830	schools, um, but for the, the families that I serve, um, they transition a lot. Some of these kids are couch surfing day by day, um, you know, being in different places, um, by the week, um, by the day.

00:18:38,100	So we have van service that we can provide for them, um, if they qualify for that where it acts as kind of an Uber where they, they get picked up in the morning as long as we know where they’re at and, and take them to their school, um, and so, you know, some of those gaps that we have that we have seen over the years, um, that we would like to possibly help

00:18:53,500	figure out how to prevent those gaps would be, um, the duration of time it might take for a student who might want to use the transit. Or the, yeah, the transit cat bus for their school, um, if they want to get to school to and from, um, before and after school, um, sometimes, you know, it can

00:19:11,700	take up to 45 minutes to an hour before they’d have to leave, um, and sometimes that might be, you know, leaving pretty early in the morning, um, to, to figure that out.

00:19:30,470	Um, the other thing would be the after hours, so we have, um, kids who are in extracurricular activities, and so, um, sometimes they’re needing that, um, after school or after activity piece so. That goes into the evenings.

00:19:48,170	A lot of our students who are considered, um, like the unaccompanied maybe couch servers, couch surfers that are on their own but have jobs, um, their jobs, you know, work until past the time that transit actually runs, um, for the bus at night, um, and so we’re able to give them through our program that we offer, we’re able to give them, um, free bus passes. So it’s no charge to them, but if they’re not able to use it to get home at night, um, it doesn’t really make sense, um, for that. of it.

00:20:02,530	Um, And then just, uh. For the the families and the parents that I work with kind of the same situations where if they have jobs, a lot of it is shift work, a lot of it is that, um, fast food, retail, and so also those shifts go past the time that that transit is, is

00:20:21,670	working. And so, um, if we could, you know, try to figure out a way to, to Close that gap a little bit for our students and our families, I think would be a huge help, um, for the families that I serve. Go ahead, Matthew. What’s already on.

00:20:46,870	Um, as you know, I struggle with CPTSD, um, with that comes with, uh, a lot of recovery. I’ve been homeless. I’ve Gone through a lot, um. And so I use the bus to go through therapy. Um, I meet with the therapist weekly. Um, which is very important, um.

00:21:17,200	You know I am focused on healing from my My past and things I’ve gone through. Um And I can’t have that without transportation. I live alone. I don’t have um. You know, family, I’m now making friends in the community. Um, which is awesome, and uh, You know, but they can’t always give me a ride to places I need to go. So having, um, Transit’s been very helpful.

00:21:45,030	Um And you know, I think that It needs to continue. For people that have um. Need to get to places and get out where they are, I mean. Coming from homeless, you know.

00:22:07,400	There’s many times, and not just in Bismarck, but in, in Minnesota as well that I’ve even ride the bus to try to get connected with a social worker, a case worker to start working on my Um To get homeless. So, Um It’s, it’s huge transportation is big. OK, the Population that I serve are newcomers to this country and largely focusing on refugee families. I did some uh conversations and surveys at the Adult Learning Center in March, um.

00:22:41,700	To see what they thought. I, I, I can’t represent them without. Knowing what they think, and I’m here to advocate for them. So there were 55 students, uh, over the course of one day, who responded to the question, uh, what are some problems you see with transportation in Bismarck.

00:23:02,300	And interestingly, not all the problems identified just had to do with the bus or the transit system. They recognize that elderly disabled and lower-income families are also pedestrians, bicyclists, users of on-demand transportation and the bus. Um, the students identified 4 major problem categories, and that included pedestrian safety. Cost of transportation overall. Too few on-demand ride options. And um the bus services.

00:23:34,430	When I started thinking about this problem back in December. I was asked by one newcomer. I’m not sure you’re asking the right question. Maybe they don’t even want to use the bus, so I did include that question in my survey.

00:23:54,200	Do you use the bus? Do you want to use the bus? Uh, if you don’t use the bus, why not? So that I could glean some more information. And the students, um. 3 33% use the bus routinely, 49% do not because they have their own, uh, Own car or own family car.

00:24:20,370	The remaining 18% typically get rides from family or on-demand services, but all of those 18%, they said they would like to use the bus if there weren’t problems with the bus, and so then the problems that they broke out, um, there were 5 main categories. Pedestrian safety at stops. Um, that the bus did not always stop for students, and I think that has to do with education.

00:24:42,230	Um Education and understanding, the bus and bus stop environment that was largely related to weather. Uh, they said one of the challenges is not only walking to the stop in the winter, but standing at a stop that doesn’t have a shelter. And then the, the main concern, uh, over half of them said was the schedule and the routes.

00:25:04,270	And scheduled specifically being the service times as Sheri said the service times end before their school finishes, if they’re going to the Adult learning center in the evening or, uh, service ends before their work shift ends. And then, uh, length of wait time.

00:25:19,700	So the, the time they’re waiting there at the stop and or the time it just takes to get somewhere because the buses are on the 1 hour or 2 hour kind of loop. OK, I want to correct one thing right from the start, I am a fixed route writer. I am registered with Pure Transit. I don’t really use it. I use the fixed route. And mostly I walk.

00:25:52,170	But I also do use the blue, the black, and the orange and red routes and very occasionally the green. I don’t go as much to me down, but I am familiar. With the bus and I understand, uh. The comments of people who don’t know how to write. I remember working with a woman.

00:26:18,530	Who was an established immigrant who had a friend who was trying to ride the bus and they didn’t know about signaling the bus to stop and they weren’t very sure about the schedule and things like that.

00:26:39,100	And one of the things that Bizman Transit has done in fairness, is they do have a trip planning service and they do work with a lot of your immigrant students, but they work with, they go to the campus. And help the students plan trips, students often want to be able to go to Walmart or other places as well as uh to jobs and whatnot.

00:27:01,700	So there there are attempts being made to make the service more intelligible and more accessible, but yes, any public transit service, you do a lot of waiting. The one thing I like about the fixed route though is generally the buses are pretty predictable, so you have a good idea of how long you’re going to have to wait for something. I agree to the pedestrian safety issue is a biggie.

00:27:22,470	You generally are walking one to. 6 or maybe 12 or more blocks to A bus stop and if you’re lucky, those are all streets with sidewalks and controlled intersections, but realistically, no, they aren’t.

00:27:47,530	And cars here seem to look at pedestrians as critters in a video game, something to play chicken with, and if they, you know, injure or hit you, well, you know, that’s your fault. That is a problem. The other thing that can happen is you’re waiting for the bus. And you’re. Where you anticipate it will come, and there are nothing but parked cars.

00:28:17,300	And so how in the heck are you even going to be visible to the driver? Well, I step off the curb and go out into the street. Is that safe? No, but it does mean that the driver will probably see you, and they’re very good about signaling that they’re going to stop or even half a block away so that the vehicles behind them maybe will decide that they should stop, although I

00:28:36,030	understand that doesn’t always happen either. There have been accidents with buses because cars. feel that buses are impediments and they crash into them. Most of the accidents of the bus has are the drivers, the car driver’s fault, not the bus drivers. That is a problem. The other thing that happens is winter.

00:29:02,700	I hate the ice first and the snow second. It may be sleet would be 3rd because we haven’t had as much of it, but no doubt that will change. The problem is walks don’t get shoveled as quickly as they should.

00:29:25,030	They are not shoveled in front of bus stops, there’s some kind of jurisdictional interpretation issue about who’s responsible for that? Is it the The school, the library, Walmart, is it the city? Is it the bus company, but it needs to be handled better and more consistently.

00:29:48,100	Uh, people like Trevor at the Patterson, the Patterson isn’t always even shoveled, Are you kidding? And across the street, the train depot for the former train depot, that is always shoveled either. That is ridiculous, inexcusable, and it really shouldn’t go on. Let’s see here. Oh, the other issue is bathrooms. Not only the drivers, but the riders need safe accessible public bathrooms that are kind of close to the bus route. A number of us now have issues with needing quick access to a bathroom.

00:30:14,800	I don’t know what can be done about that, but that shouldn’t get lost. And of course more hours because of what everybody else has said. If you’ve got shift work if you’ve got a job that ends at night if you want to go out at night, the bus isn’t there.

00:30:36,170	When you’re done, you’ve got to find some other way home. And the same for going out to events, and I find myself doing that too. I’m, I’m kind of juggling.

00:30:54,300	Well, let’s see, I could get there on the bus, but then I’ve got to be sure that there’s gonna be somebody there who’d be willing to give me a ride, and it’s amazing all these liberal, good people who don’t seem to think that giving people a ride is something that they need or should do.

00:31:16,200	On the other hand, I do have a network as, as Matthew was saying, um, That I usually can depend on to give meris, and I’ve been able just to walk up in front of people, uh, bannn would, would know that too, you know.

00:31:33,830	Can I just ask you for a ride and usually people are very nice about it, but It would be nice to have that bus at the other end, so you didn’t have to put yourself out that way and not all of us are quite that bold, and I must admit I’m not always that bold either. So I like the bus. I just wanted to get better. I want more hours. On the bus and I want more vehicles for Peerer transit as well. But this is a good service we need to support it.

00:31:57,830	Um I agree with what We need more hours, we need more. And stuff, but I, I wanna bring something up. W As a paratra writer. When it’s your only mode of transportation sometimes. It’s very important to get to the doctor’s office and things and I just hope that we can improve it, so.

00:32:36,370	I hear a lot of complaints from people that need to go to the ER and don’t have a ride, so that’s what I’m here to tell you is we need expanded rides we need to expanded hours. We need, we need a holidays, you know. Cause I’m here to speak for those in nursing homes too.

00:32:57,570	This is the only way to get around. So I, I really think it’s a needed surface. You Well, thank you everyone for um the answer or was very thoughtful for you, and I’m gonna pass it to Molly, um, for the next question. And some of you addressed some of these ideas.

00:33:26,430	The second question is, what ideas or potential solutions. Do you have to address these barriers. Um, so I think Some of the things that was mentioned that, um, I maybe didn’t mention, but is an issue that I hear from, from families or even students when I offer a CAT bus pass is kind of that stigma of, well, I don’t wanna

00:33:51,070	ride the bus, um, 100% of the children that I serve have trauma. And so that could be any kind of trauma that would maybe hinder them from Feeling safe on the bus.

00:34:16,170	And that’s not necessarily the, the buses issue, but I feel if there would be a lot more promotion on How safe the bus can be, um, you know, that there’s no crimes that happen on the bus itself. I hear that there’s some safety issues with bus stops and things like that, but if those kinds of things would get addressed, um, one of the things that we talked about within the office was if maybe like that first week of school,

00:34:32,230	um, there could be a big promotion of students ride free for the week, just to get them on the bus, um, just to get them to say, hey, might as well, it’s free, let’s try it, um.

00:34:50,400	Um, and that’s something that, you know, uh, our program can help our students with, um, by doing trip planners or things like that, um, and getting that access for them, but I think doing something like that specifically for students or to target that that area, um, of, of people that we serve would be really good, um, and I, you know, I think.

00:35:11,700	Again, with, with the whole stigma thing, I know that um. There’s a lot of the, the safety things that come up, but I mean even if um I was trying to think of one of the ideas that we talked about, um, Just anything just around showing that it’s, you know, that it’s safer, and sometimes having smaller, so not maybe

00:35:33,030	the big cat bus, but like kind of like a pair transit or like a smaller shuttle bus, um, and maybe those evening hours would, um, maybe when it’s dark and things like that, it doesn’t seem like it’s so scary and, you know, like a big bus like that, um, being able to have

00:35:49,570	that, um, but I just think really promoting that somehow amongst that specific group, um, that we serve for the students would, would really work out, um, in the benefit of getting more riders at that age level. Um, I’d have to agree with Susan, um, about the more hours and uh people.

00:36:17,800	Um, and more routes, um. Like you get from your guys’ end, you know, financially and stuff. Um I’ve come from Colorado and I’ve had a really rough run in the system, but one thing I can say, and I have done is red buses out there as well.

00:36:40,870	Um, they had buses on two sides of the road, um, easy to access. It’s not one side, it’s not the other, um. Where you’re at when you’re, um, waiting for your boss. It’s clean, it’s open. Um I would have to admit to, I think people can work on, um, stopping when a bus is stopped, um, with traffic and stuff, they’ll just keep going.

00:37:03,800	Um, and I’ve seen it more than once myself, um. And coming from Um Some stuff too, you know, it’s hard to get out of the house sometimes too. And I feel safe there for once, yeah, at the place I’m at, and it’s just difficult for me to get out. Um, a lot, um.

00:37:28,230	And you know, another thing I’d say too is that Um You know, I just got in touch with the church group out here, and it’s amazing. Um, I’ve made friends and You know, and, and sometimes they, they can’t always give me a ride, so it would be nice to have, um, not only for medical appointments, but to be able to

00:37:50,170	connect with our Lord and Savior, so Um You know, community and groups, that’s, that’s where the love is at, so. Thank you. I’ll share the solutions that the students suggested, um, like everyone else said more hours and days to the service.

00:38:18,100	They suggested adding smaller buses for shorter, more direct trips, more routine things, places that people are going to go back and forth. More routes to more neighborhoods, more buses to existing routes to decrease the wait time or the time. The amount of times it can come to that stop. Um, add shelters to existing stops for the weather.

00:38:39,400	Increase the education, and we know they’ve made efforts to increase the education, uh, now part of my job is to get some of those things translated and get them in the hands of the students and the families who are coming. Um, recruit writers, recruit more writers for efficiency, so that you do have more ridership using using them.

00:39:00,130	For safety, they commented, um, on the length. Of the length of no parking between stop signs and cars. Uh, is very short here compared to places they’ve lived, so that they often can’t even see stop signs, so they suggested making that length of no parking longer. And possibly even illuminating stop signs like. With lights around them so that they’re more noticeable.

00:39:23,570	And then they suggested that, um, employers could offer stipends for transportation to work, so that they’re not having to buy bus passes or pay for Uber to get to work. I would like to see. Yes, more roots, more hours, as everybody’s been saying.

00:40:02,030	It would be nice if Trips to bus Routes weren’t generally longer than 6 blocks away, but I know that. Isn’t always possible. I would also like to see some more rigorous enforcement of pedestrians have the right of way, you must stop. And drivers here seem to like to play with that a lot.

00:40:32,530	And when I was taking driver’s lessons lessons so that I could get my License, I remember. My Da’s driving school instructor saying, well, On the driving test, if you don’t stop for pedestrians, it is over. You do not get a license. Well, I would like that to count on more than just the driver’s license exam.

00:40:56,070	And this Garbage about how it is fun to turn in front of the bus, and it is fun to pay the bus has got to get to be over there needs to be some strong education about that.

00:41:20,970	Again, growing up, I had a girlfriend and her boyfriend, they’re blossoming romance ended when he was killed when on their little motor scooter, he was passing the bus as it was turning left. What could go wrong and Crashed into the bus and she was in the hospital for a while with some rather significant injuries that she fortunately recovered from, but there’s just too much of this that I don’t know what the deal is and this stuff about stigma and riding the bus, I kind of

00:41:41,830	resented to this stuff about, oh, this is really about people who are poor and old and have disabilities and this and that, well, yes, um, the bus is absolutely for.

00:42:09,170	everyone, which of course does include those of us who are old who have disabilities and who have other conditions of life that mean we don’t drive or can’t drive, but the bus and the way it’s going to expand is if we start thinking about and promoting it as something for everyone. And it is, and it works the same way for everyone.

00:42:35,300	Everybody gets out, everybody gets to see more people, everybody feels more connected that message needs to be out there. I am tired of this. Oh, it’s for people that we don’t otherwise really want to see. And believe me, I even experienced that with walking with a cane. That’s enough. People act like, ohh. You’re out.

00:42:57,400	You’re in public, and You know That Anybody with a visible disability gets this kind of treatment. Well, it is not OK, and this is not the way to promote the bus either. The bus is for us all, and it should welcome us all and should, if anything, Make us all more visible and more connected. Uh, um, I, I agree with everyone here, you know, it’s about inclusion.

00:43:27,630	It’s about The biggest thing it’s about. When your family’s on Thanksgiving dinner, making sure you’re included in Doduct to go home at. 3 o’clock and on Sundays especially. 2:30 That’s not Accessible for our riders. One of the things I’ll mention what I would like to see and I’m. I’m convinced that it.

00:43:55,370	We work and I know in 2017, we are, we were proposed an option for on Sundays to open it up to the general public. I’m, I’m kind of on the fence about it at first because, you know, everyone in the disability community needs to have a right, but I, I think it is time to

00:44:18,770	try it. See, you see if there is an interest and if it doesn’t work, do a pilot. Do a pilot 6 months Have some clear guard rails though. So we don’t, we don’t, uh, have people in wheelchairs having this set at home, but maybe, maybe it’s time for a change.

00:44:42,470	And I think it’s time to look at it again, but I think 6 month pilot would be my recommendation at the minimum just to make sure there’s no. Major unintended consequences.

00:45:15,570	Thank you Thank you for your invaluable insights, everyone, and for addressing those challenges and also, um, your ideas for solutions, uh, to yourselves and to those you serve, um, that will open up for questions and comments, uh, to the audience. And uh when you do come up to the podium, kindly, um, fill out the form right in front of you and um proceed with your questions or comments. Anybody wants to come up? Don’t be shy. Thank you, and yeah, fill up the form, please.

00:45:48,100	I don’t. Oh, here. bike stands on the. There is a consideration of running fixed routes from like 6 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. by having that, that will be a big support for me and others who rely on the fixed route cab bus. The Kapus is free for paratransit people whom a lot are on a fixed income.

00:46:24,300	So that will really support them by having more cat hours creating work and leisurey opportunities. Plus transit you must call in a day in advance, not always are you prepared for that with unexpected things that come up. By having longer cat hours, we have better ways of getting around. It helps. Any questions? Hm Thank you. OK.

00:46:53,830	Anybody else wanna come up? If this is this Micke is better for you, OK, and can the uh. Introduce yourself as well, yeah, can I Yes, OK. Hey No, I got it. My name is Elissa Patterson. I am not provider at Stanford. And I.

00:47:28,370	I can’t speak for everyone on this issue, but For those who are in familiar, the bus and the bus is $3 per ride. I, when I became a provider, which is 2 years now. I was paying a friend to drive me to and from work and IP $5 a ride so $10 a day.

00:48:06,330	Which might seem like a lot, but it’s something to consider maybe raising the prices because. I would be more money. To be able to get to work on time. Would anyone else? Like to comment and please introduce yourself to. Hi, um, my name is Lilianne Johnston. Um, I’m on the Bismarck Mandan Mayor’s Committee for people with disabilities, um, just one thing that I think would be really helpful to promote.

00:48:48,030	I think there’s this idea that the buses for a certain type of person, and I know I’m from California originally, and one thing we had was if we could encourage businesses for their employees to maybe like in the state of California, you would get like $15 extra a month or a certain stipend to help promote.

00:49:07,730	Other people taking the bus that typically, I think the buses associated with like maybe people who don’t work, people who are disabled or people who are low income, but the bus can be for everybody.

00:49:22,030	I mean, we all have days where our car breaks down and rather than scramble for Uber last minute or have to try to look at a bus route or call out. It might be good to promote that for. Other people, cause the bus can be for everybody. Thanks. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? We have a couple more questions for the panel. Um Oh, I’m so sorry.

00:49:58,630	Tia Jorgensen, um, and I guess this is probably not really a question that any of you guys can answer, but just something I think for everyone here to consider our conversation here is heavily relied on the bus and the bus system, um, we really haven’t brought up other options like Lyft, Uber, um, even the taxi services, um, The, the limited options that we

00:50:21,830	have here in our city. So I just kind of encourage Other people when we’re thinking about public transportation, um, that we kind of think outside the box a little bit as well, um. No question, but just a comment. I got one comment.

00:50:46,970	Have you taken the taxi here? Do you know how much it costs um. Yes, and I was extremely surprised, um, for my Probably 7 minute ride to the airport. Oh well that’s $40. It was $40. And I have never, that’s, that’s what I pay in large cities. So, um, Just considering. Considering other options, you know, for people because $40 especially when you were not expecting that.

00:51:15,770	It’s a, it’s not a fun surprise at 4 a.m. So yes, I, I agree 100%. OK. And at the transportation committee we heard a little bit about Uber prices. Well, they were remarkably similar to BTS prices, you know,,, $20 in town and maybe $40 to the airport. This out of the box solutions are not cheap ones.

00:51:45,200	And again, um, I 100% agree, but I, the steering committee who is here and listening, there are cities and again, I don’t think they’re comparable to Bismarck, which makes things challenging to look at, um, but there are cities and employers who will pay a stipend.

00:52:07,570	I heard that recommendation, um, or they actually partner with Uber or Lyft where. whether it’s the county, the city, an organization will actually pay a portion of it and then Lyft and Uber reduce their costs, which maybe allows for the the writer to pay $2.

00:52:32,700	Um, so just Probably not as realistic, um, suggestions right now for our city, but there, there are things happening, um, across the country that do reduce those um the the price barrier. And, and if I could just add, uh, One common type. I think we need to look at that.

00:53:01,530	Especially on the holidays and The medical emergency medical rides, we gotta find a way for people if they need to get somewhere on a holiday even to the emergency room. Those are two and walk in. Those are two same day things, I think the city needs to look at, Something like what Tia said something where maybe it’s a $5 voucher, maybe it’s only $5 for the rider, but it’s. It’s more affordable for the rider.

00:53:28,170	Because I, I do like having our, Curr system. Where our drivers can have holidays off too, and if we’re providing all the 40 rides on a holiday. Why can’t we just give vouchers, then people can just custom make their. arrangements they don’t have to set time. Just call when you’re done. I mean.

00:53:56,500	And we would have to have like one voucher for holiday and all that, but that’s, that’s something I think that needs to be looked at. I’m like to the idea that you were suggesting a partnerships. I think we definitely need to explore that more. That, that could be very fruitful.

00:54:18,370	I think that’s an excellent thing for us to all think about and try to work on it. I’d like to add that um. Working in public health, we have hosted. Uh, pop up food pantries every other month since December.

00:54:41,370	And we had a, we had a little bit of a grant and so we were able to offer transportation, uh, to those and we used Uber Health to do so. What we have found is Between 3:30 and 5, which is when we’re running the pantries. Good luck getting a driver for the person you’re trying to get to.

00:55:00,700	To get food literally or to get to, you know, from any, yes, to get to any service during that time. So the, um, the students had some suggestions about on-demand ride needs kind of related to this, um, they suggested encouraging more Uber drivers through those types of partnerships you mentioned, um, helping Uber drivers convert their cars for wheelchairs and to, to be more of a paratransit option, um, transportation for medical appointments.

00:55:25,800	They wondered about a city taxi. They don’t usually see taxis and they come from places where taxis are all around. Uh, they suggested some type of system where you would have cars for people who don’t have cars to borrow and use at a cost, but at a lesser cost than renting a car.

00:55:47,030	And then having vans for 8 to 12 people that you could order via an app. So say you had a group, you had a large family, you want to get to the zoo or you want to get to some event, uh, the ability to get them all there together with that type of vehicle.

00:56:04,630	Yeah I would like to add to, I know this is a little off topic, but. You know, Metaphor to get to where I wanna say is that if you drop a piece of glass, you got all these shattered pieces and listen to these pieces because this is what’s gonna build a city transportation, a bus that is huge.

00:56:25,900	And so paying attention to these little things can make a huge, huge difference. I used to clean at group homes and foster homes as a a chore daily routine. These small things can make a huge difference in our city, so listen to these huge pieces, so. You know, and that’s just like therapy. It’s, it’s another process to healing.

00:56:48,430	So, I hope I just want to put that out there. I just have a comment on the the collaboration piece with somebody, I think that’s an excellent idea, um, just to Keep in mind on that where for our students.

00:57:11,370	What we run into now is they can’t ride Uber or Lyft by themselves if they’re under 18, so like after school if they want or after they’re like basketball practice or a basketball game or something like that, even if I could give them an Uber gift card, they’re not allowed to ride by themselves now, has it happened? Yes, but, um, we never know which Uber driver is going to let it happen, and so we can

00:57:28,000	never prepare for that. So if there is a collaboration, if the same guidelines could occur as far as you know. students at a certain age can ride, um, still with a parent would be. Much appreciated.

00:57:54,670	Hm OK, one thing that I’m surprised wasn’t brought up, but maybe because Trevor is the only one who rides paratransit on the committee is wait times. I work with individuals with developmental disabilities and the hugest concern that’s brought up to me is wait times, so I’m wondering if there’s some type of Solution that could happen as far as being notified as far as wait times go, such as like Uber and Lyft, when you’re using either of

00:58:15,930	those, they’ll tell you how far away your driver is, so if there’s some type of solution like that because that in my mind for the people that I serve is the biggest concern is wait times. I, I would agree with that. I know, I know Deirdre and the team I’ve been on. Several meetings with um.

00:58:39,430	The board and you know it’s. It’s like you said with the The 3:30 to, 5 times in the 8. 8 to 10, you know, and I know at the steering committee we’re looking at getting maybe a few more parent vehicles may be and stuff, but I think it’s more drivers would be helpful, but I

00:59:04,700	know it’s really getting hard, like kit, for example, they have their routes. And so they kind of hug up. time, but I just wanna. I just wanna ask those writers that have written lately, you know, it’s changed since COVID and they’re getting better as time goes.

00:59:35,530	But I really feel like That was before COVID and maybe before, you know. Things kind of get, yes, they have their pitfalls, but. It’s, it’s not all the time anymore. It seems like it’s getting better. Since about September of last year before that, I agree with you. It was. Quite a little bit, but I think they’ve had less trip denials.

01:00:03,800	We’re at 95%, I mean, I know the peak times are the hardest, yes. But I don’t know how we solve it all. Just speaking to the wait times a little bit.

01:00:39,600	It has gotten significantly better, I would agree with Trevor that, um, it used to be they gave you a 30 minute window and if you were there waiting and not 30 minutes. The bus would wait for 5 minutes, and if you went outside, it left you, um.

01:01:09,430	And now you receive a text a few minutes before it shows up so that you get you more prepared to go, um, I think that we do have a ways to go, it would be nice if There would be some kind of app that showed you where it was, but I understand that. That can happen because of like HIPAA reasons. So they can share where they are exactly, but that’d be something like that would be nice. Uh, my name is Kyle Thiel. I’m the founder of Ridable.

01:01:47,300	It’s a local, uh, transportation platform, uh, it’s community focused. It’s a marketplace for rides. It’s fundamentally different from the rideshare apps, uh, on it. I’m the only driver right now I’ve uh given as of today, 500 consecutive days of service, uh, and the difference is, it’s meant to be a zero commission model for drivers.

01:02:11,970	Drivers get to set their rates and negotiate rates. Passengers get to choose their drivers, so you can negotiate rates with your drivers the idea. And uh What I’m, I see like, uh, I, I’m gonna try to not read it tonight. I’m gonna try and Speak about it tonight. I’ve been, I’ve been reading it. This might be a mistake.

01:02:30,900	I don’t know, but I see 3 big challenges and the big one is insurance. One of the biggest ones is insurance. There are providers out there that are ready to step up to the plate and this is what I think we need the public or the private sector to step up and provide more of these services.

01:02:50,300	It’s really difficult with the cost of commercial insurance, especially when you get into ADA accessible vehicles, the cost is through the roof and, uh, so maybe the city could provide like uh an insurance and reliability fund that um would cover that cost of insurance for the private sector and also background checks and things like that.

01:03:14,930	And that’s something that um that our platform could help. With that could help with the background checks to make sure that we’ve got vetted drivers on there and that they’re all insured. Uh, the other big issue is, again, that everybody talked about the affordability of it.

01:03:36,230	I mean, yeah, you can’t be paying that much for a ride, especially every day when you’re relying on it every day, so the voucher program makes sense, but then what about the accountability, you know, um, making sure that the right people are getting them, making sure that um, that they’re being used for the right reasons and um.

01:03:58,270	That’s where, you know, a platform to make sure track where People are going and where they’re being used, uh, We would need something like that. And then a unified, just a, a transportation hub.

01:04:23,900	We need like a transportation hub, and that’s what rideable aims to be is a hub where we’re partnered with Other entities in the community, particularly with Bizan Transit so that Susan doesn’t have to wait out in the cold for the boss that she could get, you know, get a ride to or from the stop, those first and last mile connections, so it would be nice if we could have A centralized app where you’re booking the ride and you could have, you know, Are you

01:04:43,570	open to the buss and then yes, so then it would find you a bus route and then match you with a provider that could provide that first or or last mile connection, so those are, uh, Those are some ideas and uh yeah, thank you. Kind of want to say something too, is that.

01:05:07,600	You know, I, I participate in central human services and They hooked me up with the free bus pass, and you have no idea how good that is. You know, so. I wouldn’t be able to do any of my appointments without them, so I, I, you know, the value of having something like that, it’s incredible.

01:05:31,630	Hello again everyone. Um, I did have a comment um to Alyssa’s statement, and I appreciate her so much for bringing up the texting um option as we’re talking about, um, our wait times and things like that, um, liking to see some sort of app where people could see when their trip is coming.

01:05:48,930	We do have that actually, um, and it’s it’s something we’ve tried promoting, unfortunately, as she did say, uh, can’t always show um. The trip from beginning to end due to HIPAA and and and not being able to know where that individual right before them was dropped off, but through the Ecolane app, um, that’s our dispatching service.

01:06:10,030	Uh, we do have a window when that person right before you is dropped off before your pickup. It will turn on and start showing you a real-time tracking of the bus coming through that app also, um, you can look at your future reservations.

01:06:27,100	Um, you can see if you have a diminishing balance account that’s utilizing um Rather than having tickets or paying cash on the bus, you can add money to this account. You can track that, any of your historical, um, rides you can also track through that.

01:06:43,830	So we’ve tried promoting it, uh, not to the greatest success, but it’s absolutely, if it’s something that people want to use, we can set it up for you because we’re already paying for the service. So just wanted to, to respond to that. Thank you. The app definitely has been useful. I am I would just say, you know, go and hurry back to it. We need more rides, we need more routes.

01:07:05,830	Um, it takes almost an hour to get where you need to go on most of the routes, um, which is a time consumer. Now the says all day either, so. Yeah. Any further questions, comments? Have enough time. One more, the last time. OK Um We’ll ask one more question to you all.

01:07:48,400	Howard more accessible transportation options impact your feelings of safety. And a sense of belonging in the city of Bismarck. How would more accessible transportation options impact your feelings of safety and a sense of belonging here. Well, I would have to speak for the families that I work with, um.

01:08:16,530	But I, I definitely know for our parents, um, and our, uh, and our students coming to think about it, um, being connected to be able to do more activities within the community, go to church, um, be a part of church groups, be a part of, um, you know, even like the Lego groups after school or that they meet every Wednesday night at such and such, um, I know there’s,

01:08:35,270	um, Carrie’s kids. She has kids groups at night, um, in the evenings, um. That I know transportation is an issue for, and so, um, just being able to be connected and find your own interests and with your own peers, um, for our students, obviously makes their educational experience, um, much better, and then for our

01:08:56,670	families, um, You know, hearing some of the people that do take the transit and paratransit, just that connectivity, um, within the community of, you know, other, other writers that maybe you get to talk to when you’re on the bus, um, and get to know or even going to, um, we have a lot of uh parents in

01:09:17,970	recovery that we work with and so they make comments about not being able to get to an AA group or an NA group or some sort of support group in the evenings because of transportation.

01:09:37,170	So having that support um in their recovery would be amazing, um, but I think these guys can, can speak better to what their experiences are, but I feel like that would be something that the parents and students that I serve, um, would really appreciate and um gain a lot from. Could you repeat the question one more time, sorry. You betcha. Thank you.

01:10:00,630	Um, how would more accessible transportation options impact your feelings of safety and sense of belonging here in the city of Bismarck. Hm Going back right at, I, you know, more routes, timing, all of it. Um I know everyone’s got everything going on, you know, everyone’s busy, everyone has a routine, a daily thing. Um, no one’s perfect.

01:10:35,370	Um But, um, having more rides will be able to get to the community, get to therapy doctors, all of it. Um Yeah. It’s not much I could say. Thank you. I mean, you guys really laid out the board. I wanna share that our families feel so safe here. Um, when I asked them what’s good about Bismarck.

01:11:02,030	They always say it’s um, it’s a beautiful city, people are friendly, and I feel safe here. My family is safe here. My children are treated well at school. Uh, and I would agree with Cherie. What, what do I know as someone who taught the adults and who also sees the kids in K-12. The families are working hard. The parents are often both working or one is working with the family car.

01:11:26,070	The other parent can’t get the children to events and activities. The children are not participating in as many sports, as many after school activities, they’re not getting to events, they’re maybe not getting to the libraries where we have those connection places and I am concerned for them.

01:11:47,970	I used to work at the prison as well and I see what happens with youth at risk, who aren’t integrating into their communities how isolated they become, how they might be connected with someone who they don’t know isn’t a safe person and they end up doing things that might not even know they shouldn’t be doing.

01:12:07,800	So I am really concerned about providing opportunities for those youth to get better connected in our communities too. Transportation would be a big help. Amen sister. Transportation is key to most things going on around us, and it is amazing. Medicaid doesn’t want to cover it. Manicurere may not cover it.

01:12:39,370	Nah, Spiro may decide not to reimburse even though they gave somebody a voucher. There’s too much of this kind of garbage, and How do you live in the community. You, you don’t always. You can’t always do things from home, you need to be able to get out and that means transportation that you can afford that is safe and I, I agree. I feel.

01:13:05,900	Bismarck and the, the transportation is safe. There have been disruptive people on buses I’ve been on and between the driver and other passengers, they generally take care of of things kind of get the person to settle down and things don’t don’t go nuts. That’s pretty decent, and it doesn’t happen. Very often. Transportation is key.

01:13:36,430	We need more, more hours, more vehicles, more drivers and people need to know that this is something they can use and depend on and this idea about having it into the evening hours so people can go and come. Wow, that is huge. We need that. I agree with what Susan said, and I’ll just say.

01:14:04,630	You know, if you don’t have transportation like. Heather May set over there, we don’t have enough. We don’t have enough services. I sit on the human service budget. For the past 4 months as an advocate. We’re spending 6 million. Dollars on the human service budget and it touches it. Everybody’s lives. And transportation, they forget about us. Um-hum.

01:14:37,230	They don’t, They don’t care. If they have a ride and I deal with uh the reentry stuff. And uh, you know, it’s a broken. System And so what we need it for, you know, just like Susan said, we gotta provide for these people, and they need rides to the hospital for their behavioral health, uh,

01:15:05,100	clinic visit. We need to get him there because if you don’t get them there, you’re not gonna save the state money, they’re gonna go to the state hospital, and they’re overcapacity already, so it’s just we need to work with the community to get the best transportation because it is a barrier. Thank you.

01:15:28,030	Turr made me think of something else. There’s a Only partly hidden issue here that comes up and anybody who rides some of the. Ride services. He’s about this medical transportation that is a key part of the service that the taxi and the ride services supply and it even as part of the bus I’ve heard about people

01:15:59,530	going to dialysis appointments on the bus. And certainly if you have a routine medical appointment, my gosh, if you could take the bus to it, that’s great.

01:16:22,500	But that is an issue I suspect we will still need to be addressing and we basically need Another mechanism, another discussion, another bunch of solutions, but that one is gonna get to be even bigger than it already is now, and it is gonna be the elephant in the room that is making a lots of trumpeting sounds and maybe lots of poop to clean up because it’s gonna be a lot more visible.

01:16:41,730	We have to think about medical transportation and be responsible about it. You know, and Bismarck is, it’s growing. It’s a city. It keeps growing. We have a lot of people here. And um You know, fix this now. Before the future. I just want to have that. Thank you so much for your integral. voices and additional comments. Hi everyone, my name’s Mike Connelly.

01:17:17,400	I’m the Bismarck City Comm. I’m also the one that um Helps get a group of phenomenal people together to put this measure forward. This is literally the biggest swing, um, in 40 years to address this issue. And we overcame a lot part of what you said, Susan, as far as the um how the wording was on the measure.

01:17:39,770	A lot of that is because All of the things to overcome in the perceptions out there, it’s a lot. So it’s a start. It’s how we take the bigger swing, create the space, and then help build the wall of belief because the needs just like I appreciate all of you for sharing is the needs are more

01:18:01,730	numerous than people know. And how does it make us a better community. So this is a process. It’s a stepping stone as we grow into that space, but we have to be a good steward to it.

01:18:20,230	So everybody, I appreciate you all coming out and that so we can keep the conversation growing because as we build those relationships over time, it becomes more dynamic and more special, so it creates the flexibility in the system we need for whether it’s transit ideas or other things because it’s a lot of mileage in the MPO when we’re talking Mandan, Lincoln, University of Mary, and whatnot.

01:18:45,370	Um, so, and then, uh, I went to an AARP meeting and just when you talk about times in transit, um, 58% of people, their evictions are related to the amount of time they spend on a bus, but it’s a struggle that multiple communities are dealing with, um, when transit added the uh app like you’d mentioned, Matthew, to where it’s been an improvement where they’ve um

01:19:09,430	Curtailed times, there’s been improvement, but as long as we’re always improving or taking the swings in that, that’s important, um. And uh but I do want to recognize some people, Trevor and Susan helped with signatures, um, as well as a lot of people in the room, um, I talked to a lot of stakeholders like Brenda at the

01:19:32,000	EDC and different people. This has been a two year going forward and stepping into that space. I’m a Relations Committee and the, I’m on the uh Mayor’s council for people with disabilities as well.

01:19:56,430	I worked at HIT for 11 years when people mentioned nursing homes, a lot of people don’t know the nursing homes have transportation to get people to medical appointments in most cases, they don’t have transportation to get people to stay connected with their families for things like graduations or weddings or those type of things. We’re talking, there’s 100 and um 20.

01:20:20,370	7, nursing homes in the state of North Dakota, um, 13 of those long-term care facilities are within our NPO. Right here and um the one I’m working at right now has over 100 100 beds Um, we also have the largest one. So there’s a lot of dynamics.

01:20:43,500	It’s about keeping families together, keeping our community together, keeping them interacting with people, so just wanted to say those, there’s a lot of improvement, a lot of growth, but we also have to be careful because if we burn through things too fast, then the conversations get more difficult. So, um, I appreciate everybody bringing those up, and I’m always open for questions too, but I’ll keep it in this format. I just wanted to add those comments. Thank you. Uh, good evening.

01:21:11,830	Um, my name is Chelsea Flory. I am the um zone director for your, uh, Burleigh County Social Services, our human service owns what were referred to now, and so I served the, the county of Burley County, but, um, majority of my citizens are here in Bismarck.

01:21:31,670	So, um, for reference, I serve the child welfare population that were involved with as well as economic assistance. So, um, this topic for me, I feel very fortunate that, um, to live in the city of Bismarck, so I would say. Thank you for that. When I look at statewide, um, a lot of areas don’t have any public transportation.

01:21:48,770	So when we work statewide, there’s a lot of conversations that again, I feel fortunate to have what we have. So, um, thank you to the City of Bismarck for that and then being open to how do we continue to improve this, um, what motivated me get up and say something was the last question about how would this, um, I think it was, you know,

01:22:06,100	increased value to your life or how would this help you and so when I put that into the lens of those that I serve. I specifically think about my child welfare families.

01:22:21,770	Um, they spend a lot of time stressing about how they’re going to make ends meet, how are they not going to be judged by a system because they can’t do that. Things that we take for granted every day, um, a lot of the families I serve are not bad people.

01:22:39,270	there are people who are in really tough situations and they’re forced to make choices on how to, um, Take care of their family, you prioritize having a job so you can put the food on the table, but then kids might not get to school because you have to start your shift early. And then we get involved because the kids aren’t getting to school.

01:22:54,370	So, um, again, a lot of them want to solve the problem, but it can become The stigma around it and there’s things that they don’t have, again, that we all take for granted, um, you can all think about that time, it’s 9 o’clock at night and your child starts getting sick and you can just run to Walmart and get the medicine, um, to take care of them, not even saying take him into the hospital, but just go

01:23:05,970	get what they need. Um, you can all think about the time that your kids tell you at 8 o’clock at night they have to bring snack tomorrow or it’s a project that’s due, and you can just respond and do that. And so when families don’t have that, um, those extended hours, it does.

01:23:21,970	What I would say limit, um, their ability to just be human and just be normal and their dignity. So again, what motivated me is just to advocate on behalf of those that I serve.

01:23:39,930	I could go on about, um, my advocacy for individuals with disabilities and the wait time Trevor hearing you say, uh, that you on Thanksgiving have to be home at a certain time. That is, I have not put myself in that situation to think about that, um, but I just think, again, I just appreciate that Bismarck is having this conversation, and I am very Grateful when I sit around my table with my, uh, directors from across the state in very rural or poverty areas

01:23:57,770	that I do have what I have for my clients, um, but I do appreciate that we’re having the conversation on How Bismarck can continue to expand that and be what I would consider the best city. So thank you. Thank you so much. Oh yeah. I do have an actual question this time.

01:24:24,530	Susan, you made a comment that the buses for everybody and there seems to be this stigma kind of around using it, um. It’s how you stay connected and I believe you even said that sometimes you feel like People view it as the people that they don’t want to see that are writers.

01:24:46,900	So we’re talking a lot about increasing times increasing, um, options for routes. How would you guys then suggest We reduce that stigma so that the ridership then can match the routes and fisc, you know. Help out with the increased costs then. Most obvious thing in the world is have more people ride the darn bus for more walks of life. That’s real easy.

01:25:13,500	It’s what goes on everywhere else and it needs to happen here now, period. And going back to I don’t hear Cherise, um, and what she was saying too is that, you know, these trials like a weak trial like that can be valid too, so.

01:25:35,330	Um, getting people comfortable with the bus, you know, can make a difference as well. Um Yeah. Yeah, I, I would be someone, I mean, you have to educate people, but you also have to be enthusiastic about it. I lived for my first year here in Bismarck without a car.

01:26:01,270	And people, people who I did work with looked at me like I had grown a second head, uh, one person actually became almost apoplectic. How do you live without a car? Well, I had just come from China, where there’s excellent public transportation. Buses are coming every 15 minutes to the same stop. And so I knew how to use it and I, I can’t even explain, but I will, I would try to explain to people.

01:26:23,500	How much mental energy. Much more mental energy you have when a chunk of your mental energy is not devoted to thinking about where you’re going, how to drive there, what’s going on in traffic, um.

01:26:44,900	It’s a much calmer life when you are walking and taking the bus, and I would, uh, sing its praises to the public and work to educate them. If we, you know, if we can get more going. I’m just gonna do a quick plug because we have a few more minutes about the Bismarck Human Relations Committee and some of the things that we’re doing, um, first of all, I’d like to thank Comm Connelly and Comm Risch is

01:27:07,830	here as well as city administrator Jason Tamani. Oh, and Mayor Mike Schmitz is here as well. And a huge thank you to the city staff. They’re so supportive of our committee.

01:27:24,370	We’re probably a lot some of the time because we really want to do good on our community, so thank all of them for putting up with us, um, as I said before, you guys. may not know this, but this is our 4th community conversation and as you came in, there is a feedback form and we’d be so thankful if you’d fill that out because, um, 3 of these community conversations, the way we chose the topic was

01:27:40,370	because of feedback. So if you were to just quick fill this out and then um just leave it on the back table. We will take those submissions, um, we do plan on having one in the next few months.

01:27:57,370	We try to do 1 a quarter, um, and then again on the back if you want to fill out on the survey that is and share this with others, um, but the survey is only gonna be open until Saturday at 11:59. We already have some submissions and the submissions to the survey will be shared with the transportation steering committee as well.

01:28:16,100	a human relations committee, um, the last thing I want to really push home is another thing that we’re doing right now, and it’s called the humanitarian Award. Um, each year, the Bismarck Cuban Relations Committee gives a humanitarian Year of the Year award, um, last year Michael Olson, who was here, was the individual who won and then St Sanford and Gabby’s here from St Sanford was the business

01:28:35,430	that one, so we have 3 awards this year that we’ll be giving out. One is for a business or nonprofit or an organization in the community basically it just has to be in Bismarck, the second one is an adult, um, and again they have to be in Bismarck and we’ve added a new

01:28:51,970	one this year and that it’s a youth, so those are the three things you can nominate someone for each of them, but you have until May 15th at 11:59 um to nominate and the nomination forms are on the city of Bismarck’s website, as well as they’re shared on our Facebook page as well.

01:29:11,430	So I just want to thank everybody for coming. out and I just wanna especially thank the panelists for giving their time tonight, um, to do this and thank you to Dakota Media Access. This is actually our first community conversations that is taped and available after the fact, but thank you all for coming. Do you have something? Yeah.

01:29:33,570	Good as platform as any, um, a lot of things have been spoken about tonight. I took excellent notes on all of this, so I appreciate everyone’s feedback. We do use the feedback when we’re doing service planning at hisan Transit, um, but one thing that I would love to be a takeaway from this is if something happens that you

01:29:53,330	don’t feel is right with transit, or you feel like you have um better ideas for how things can be done. We are always, always, always soliciting input. So I know that the, the, the committee is obviously seeking input, you know, through, I think you said tomorrow, um, but we are always looking for input or, you know,

01:30:13,070	complaints if you spend over an hour on the bus, let us know. We look into it every single complaint is responded to unless you say you don’t want it, um, within 24 hours, um, we’ll pull footage, we’ll pull where the bus was, we’ll pull exactly what happened. Um, we also do have the Citizens Citizen Transportation input.

01:30:35,000	Committee, um, they meet monthly and discuss items that are pertinent to the Bisman Transit board. So as we talk about service expansion, you know, possibility of fare increases, whatever it might be, they’re meeting and providing input to our board of directors, um, if anyone is interested in that, I do have, I think, 6

01:30:51,570	openings for that, um, it’s, it’s a one year term where you can step down at any time, but, uh, just a shameless plug. Um, we always Welcome the feedback, and I do appreciate everyone coming in and giving feedback today. Thank you, Deirdre.

01:31:16,570	And uh let’s give a thank you to the um human relations Committee for hosting these community conversations. Thanks to all for your time and thanks to the panel, um, for your important voices experiences and sharing your perspectives and, uh, Mayor Schmitz would like to say a few things.

01:31:42,330	I won’t keep you here long, but first off, the the city commission, there’s 3 of us here, we’re listening and we ultimately will be the ones that will take the information that comes from the steering or the transportation steering committee to look at what we can do.

01:32:01,400	We, this is a new opportunity as Comm Connelly had mentioned, and we have an opportunity to really enhance our community, um, in a way that I don’t think we could have ever imagined before because we probably don’t have some of the handcuffs that may come with some federal money that transit has operated on and so we’ll, we’ll be looking for that. I thank everyone for being here tonight.

01:32:21,170	I really think you folks for being on the panel and the HRC for putting this on and I support your continued community conversations because I think great things have come from it. If people have thoughts or share this with your friends and neighbors.

01:32:40,700	Please send in information to the city as to what you think could be an enhancement to public transportation or transportation available to the public might be a better way to put it. And, uh Can’t tell you we’re gonna be able to solve it and as Comm Kley said, we’re not going to spend all the money right away because we know there’s gonna be some probable changes that have to come after the first.

01:32:57,630	Or 2nd go around what we can accomplish, but I, I believe the commission will think outside the box once we have the information. Which is Which is a welcoming event, so thank you again for coming tonight. It’s been a pleasure listening to you all.

01:33:24,170	And with that, I think we’ll close the community conversations, um, and again, the human relations Committee, thank you for coming and, uh, providing input and opinions, uh, for tonight and enjoy the weather, um, for the rest of the evening and again,