Taxi’s night hours to be cut but not until January

Ozaukee County supervisors voted last week to cut late night hours for the Shared Ride Taxi Service but agreed to not put the new schedule in place until January.

The new schedule eliminates taxi service  between 10 and 11:30 p.m. on weeknights, 9 and 10 p.m. on Saturdays and 5 and 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Cutting those hours will allow the service to increase the number of taxis available during its peak hours in the mornings and mid-day, officials say.

During a public hearing before the vote was taken, Lou Balch, who has driven for the service for five years, agreed that ridership late at night is down, but urged them to keep it operating for half an hour longer than proposed.

“On Monday I picked up four people between 9:30 and 10,” he said. “And a lot of businesses close at 9 on Saturdays.”

He also said the Oct. 1 implementation date was too soon, saying people need more time to make other arrangements.

He also pointed out that organizations such as Portal Inc., Balance and Seek often sponsor day trips to sports and other events that don’t end until 9 p.m.

Transit Supt. Kerise Zutz said she had already reached out to those groups.

Supervisors agreed with Balch to push back the implementation date but voted to approve the new hours.

The changes are “intended to better align service with current ridership patterns and improve service efficiency,” according to a memo to the committee from Zutz.

“The proposed service hour changes would reallocate nine weekly service hours to better match periods of higher demand,” Zutz wrote.

Adding more taxis to those higher-volume periods will reduce the number of denied trips, officials say.

Zutz said an analysis showed that 40 unique riders used the service after 10 p.m., accounting for 1,089 trips, during a six-month period.

In other action, the committee approved a new policy that allows riders to be in arrears on fares only up to $10, or $36 if they ride through an agency, such as Portal or Balance.

If the account is in the negative beyond that, the service can put a hold on the account and withhold service under the new policy.

The change was necessary, Zutz said, because some riders had run up negative account balances reaching into the hundreds of dollars.

“Although most riders pay at the time of their trip, outstanding fare balances occasionally occur because of insufficient funds, administrative issues, delayed agency payments, or other circumstances,” she said in a memo.

“About 40% of riders are always in the negative,” Zutz said.

She said many of the riders who are in arrears are unaware of their situations.

“This policy allows us to notify them in a timely manner,” she said.

Riders and agencies can appeal a decision if service is suspended, Zutz said.

Zutz also told supervisors that she is developing a minimum age policy for unaccompanied riders, changing it from 8 to 12 years old.

Doing so would bring the Ozaukee taxi service in alignment with Washington County’s policy. The two counties allow for transfers from one service to another.

Zutz said she will present the proposed change to the Public Works Committee in September.