GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Green Bay Metro is enhancing its On Demand service, which provides individual trips for the same price as a bus fare — $2 per ride, or $41 for a month-long pass.
- The transit director says the changes will consolidate the dropoff and pickup zones, so that people will not have to ride both a bus and a "microtransit" shuttle to get to their locations
- The On Demand service areas and hours remain unchanged:
- Monday-Friday 5:15 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.
- Saturday 7:45am-7:45pm
- We took a ride in a microtransit van to see how it compared to other public transport options
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, with additional details added for web)
Local public transportation is improving today, as Green Bay continues to work on its personal shuttle service.
Green Bay Metro is enhancing its microtransit system, with some changes going into effect today. Now, you might be wondering what microtransit is — well, it'll be easier if we just show you.
NBC 26's Karl Winter tried out the service himself; watch here:
First step: Download a smartphone app called GBM On Demand.
Then, like an Uber or Lyft, pick your pickup and dropoff spots.
We were stuck with a 40-minute wait time, as our driver had to make a few other trips first.
Then, wait for your green and gold shuttle to arrive.
We meet our drive, a retired educator named Brian Stevens, and pay him for the ride in cash: just two dollars.
Then, we're on the way.
Brian says the changes will make things quicker for riders of what Green Bay Metro calls its "On Demand" microtransit rides.
"Instead of having to be restrictive, as far as the transfer points, it's going to open it up now," Stevens said.
"Before, what was happening is you would have to get you would have to go to a transfer point and then take a bus for a certain section of your trip," Green Bay transit director Patty Kiewiz said. "And we're really trying to make people's trips easier for them."
As for our 40-minute wait, Stevens and Kiewiz say that may be due to the growing popularity of the On Demand system.
"It's really word of mouth," Stevens said.
A recent ridership report showed an average wait time of 25 minutes per ride, for the more than 5,700 riders per month (on average) of the 12-vehicle fleet.
"Those response times can tend to be a little bit longer now, as we see more and more people utilizing it," Kiewiz said. "And so that's something that the Transit Commission is watching at this point. So, you know, we may end up having to increase, obviously, service hours."
Kiewiz says the microtransit service was the first of its kind in Wisconsin when it launched in 2020, and that Green Bay continues to evolve the service to meet the needs of the community — including offering late-night rides.
"I've been in this industry, working at Green Bay Metro for 21 years," she said. "We've never been able to provide service that late, which is phenomenal for our third-shift workers."
As we wrapped up our short ride, Brian says he loves the gig, which he has been doing for about a year — especially meeting new and interesting people daily.
"It's awesome," he said. "Keeps things really interesting, kind of breaks up the monotony."
And a local cyclist named Ken stops by to chat, saying he's had a bad experience with wait times for Green Bay buses in the past, but supports the microtransit idea.
"All these great big buses and stuff, and they're slow and stuff," he said. "A smaller shuttle bus can handle the job a lot quicker, and more efficient."
Reminder: If you don't have a smartphone to download apps, you can always call Green Bay Metro at 920-448-3185 from a landline and book your microtransit ride.
The fleet also offers ADA accessible vehicles.
