T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY During Monday night’s meeting, the Marshalltown city council voted unanimously to eliminate a fixed Marshalltown Municipal Transit bus route as a result of ongoing staffing shortages.

Marshalltown Municipal Transit (MMT) has been struggling with a driver shortage for some time now, and on Monday night, the city council formally voted to eliminate one of the fixed routes known as the Purple Route as a result, with the caveat that it could return in the future if more employees are hired.

During Monday night’s meeting, a public hearing was held on the matter with no public comments until Public Works Director Heather Thomas came forward to provide more insight on the situation.

“We are struggling with staffing our transit drivers, so we went and looked at our fixed routes and what we can do to try to still provide as much service (as we can) to all the residents in Marshalltown but also realizing we don’t have enough drivers to drive those buses,” Thomas said. “So we are proposing a permanent reduction, right now, of the elimination of the Purple Route.”

She explained that the Purple Route makes stops at Marshalltown Community College, the new hospital, Center Street, 12th Street and 6th Street every 30 minutes and runs 9 ½ hours every day. Her proposal was to absorb some of those stops in other routes and increase two of the shorter routes by an hour and a half each.

The only council question came from At-Large Councilor Gary Thompson, who asked if the reduction was truly permanent or if it could be restored at some point in the future once additional hires are made. Thomas said the use of the term “permanent” was in keeping with state and federal guidelines on such changes to designate a major reduction, and a public hearing is only required for reductions, not additions.

Mayor Joel Greer also hoped for a restoration of the Purple Route at some point in the future. A motion from Councilor Gabe Isom to formally approve the reduction passed by a 6-0 vote.

Thomas told the T-R the route changes will formally take effect on Monday, Aug. 21, although she added that the Purple Route has already been stopped as part of a seasonal elimination.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.