County taxi ridership surges, no-shows cut in half

New software recently implemented by the Ozaukee County Shared Ride Taxi to streamline the reservation system and a new policy to reduce the number of riders who don’t show up after reserving the taxi are already paying dividends county officials reported last week.

In addition, April ridership on the service was the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic.

In March, the county Public Works Committee voted to implement a policy to charge people who fail to show up or cancel their ride in time.

Last week, committee members were told by Transit Supt. Kara Ottum that the number of so-called “no-shows” had been cut in half in its first month, from 882 in March to 481 in April.

Under the new policy, riders who fail to cancel their ride reservation an hour before the taxi is due to pick them up or are not ready within five minutes of the taxi’s arrival, will be assessed the full price of the ride for which they made a reservation.

Making the change in policy possible is newly installed software enabling a switch from a punch-card system to an electronic swipe card that can be charged if the rider doesn’t show up.

“The new software makes tracking no-shows easy and charges them immediately,” Highway Commissioner Jon Edgren said in a memo. “By tying a financial incentive to the no shows, we believe there will be a drastic improvement in the cancellation rate, which should improve the system’s efficiency.”

The new fare system also means officials can track ridership more accurately, officials say, giving them more confidence in their monthly ridership reports.

Ridership in April was 7,921, 534 more than in March and up 995 from April 2023, Ottum reported last week.

That was the highest monthly ridership since February 2020, when there were 8,706 riders. The next month, in March 2020, Gov. Tony Evers signed an emergency order in response to the pandemic prohibiting mass gatherings of 10 people or more, although transportation was exempt from the order.

The Shared Ride Taxi draws around 7,500 riders per month, about 80% of whom are people with disabilities or the elderly who need transportation to go shopping or for medical appointments.

The service also can transport riders to Washington County. In April, the number of riders taking advantage of that service was 261, the highest number since the cross-county service began in April 2021.

The Shared Ride Taxi does not operate on fixed routes. Passengers must call and make an appointment to be picked up and taken to their destination.

The taxi will arrive at the appointed time within a 30-minute window — 15 minutes before the appointment to 15 minutes after.

Under the new policy, if the taxi does not arrive within that window, the rider will not be charged as a no-show.

Riders will be able to appeal a no-show charge by contacting her, Ottum said.

After three “no-shows” in a 60-day period, the rider’s already-scheduled rides will be canceled and the rider will be required to reschedule each ride individually.

Further violations could result in the rider being ineligible to use the service altogether.

The taxi service has a fleet of 27 vehicles. As many as 19 are on the road at any one time, Ottum said.