Josephine Community Transit (JCT) provides transit service to Grants Pass (pop. 37,500) and unincorporated Josephine County in southern Oregon. Jarrett Walker + Associates (JWA) assisted JCT in 2017 and 2018 in developing a long-range Transit Master Plan.
The Transit Master Plan was designed to help JCT decide how service should change at current resource levels, and with new funding. The question of new funding turned out to be particularly relevant given the new funds made available by the Keep Oregon Moving legislation passed in 2017.
After reviewing existing service, demand, and available funding, JWA held a network design workshop in Grants Pass that produced contrasting alternatives for service at existing funding levels.
JWA gathered public input on these alternatives, and on priorities for future investment through an online survey that garnered over 650 responses. The number of responses to this survey was greatly increased through a partnership with AllCare Health, the local Medicaid provider with over 20,000 members in Josephine County.
Survey responses revealed that the public generally valued wide coverage more than high frequencies, and that there was a strong interest in adding service on weekends, evenings and to reach more rural communities.
In response to these priorities, the Transit Master Plan includes a program of service changes in six progressive steps, to be implemented one by one as operational funds become available.