The Polk County Transportation Authority (PCTA) has drafted a five-year plan for county commissioners to consider adopting that includes major changes and expansions of service over the next five years.

Commissioners met July 20 and heard from transportation director Dianne Timberlake who discussed some highlights of the plan.

The purpose of the five-year plan is for the transportation authority to achieve N.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) priorities to improve efficiency, effect cost savings and to serve more people; to increase overall growth with goals that the community can support; to describe current performance and organizational direction and to recommend strategies to increase mobility options for residents.

Timberlake said a steering committee was established with public involvement to collect information for the draft plan. She told commissioners one of the maps in the draft plan she finds interesting is the traffic patterns. She said 27 percent of residents are traveling outside the county. Timberlake said the Polk transportation authority bills riders for trips and are continuously trying to collect fees. One of the proposals in the five-year plan is to institute a pay as you go plan where riders know the costs up front and pay when they get on the vehicle.

“I’m not sure of any other place where you can go today, get on a public transportation system and not pay when you get on that vehicle,” Timberlake said. “So we’d like to change that.”

Timberlake also noted that they have grant funding available for passengers not able to pay with an application to qualify.

Currently the transportation authority offers demand-response service to any resident of Polk County, Monday-Friday from 5:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. excluding government holidays. The service operates on a reservation basis with riders calling to schedule a ride at least two business days in advance for in-county trips and five business days in advance for out-of-county trips.

The recommendations in the draft plan focus on identifying growth opportunities while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service. A recommendation for growth is to expand the number of rural general public trips, employment trips, trips for those who are not transit-dependent such as trips for shopping, education, recreation and special events.

“Everyone in the county should know that they have an option to take PCTA wherever they want to go,” states the draft plan. “The recommendations in this plan strive to increase ridership and system performance with a focus on policies, marketing and outreach, service expansion and regional coordination.”

Major recommendations in the plan include hiring a mobility coordinator, rebranding the service, extending afternoon service hours, adding Saturday service, implementing a deviated fixed route, reducing the reservation window, expanding the Hendersonville shopping shuttle, providing targeted service to the Tryon International Equestrian Center, implementing billing changes, enhancing technology, investigating a new transit facility and pursuing other capital needs.

A new facility would replace the current inadequate facility that PCTA rents in downtown Columbus, according to the draft plan. Construction of a new facility would require a feasibility study, which the plan recommends the county should pursue in 2017.

The plan includes potential new fares to towns outside Polk County for subsidized and non-subsidized riders.

Commissioners decided to review the 122-page plan during its next meeting, scheduled for Monday, Aug. 10. Commissioners will go over the plan during additional meetings if necessary.

The full draft five-year transportation plan can be found on the county’s website at www.polknc.org, with the draft plan located on the transportation authority’s page.