Changes coming to Cavazos Connector

FORT CAVAZOS, Texas - Since its launch March 2, the Cavazos Connector, a free transportation resource at The Great Place, has been doing exponentially well.

"It's really surpassed our expectations," said Darrell Burtner, assistant general manager of the Hill Country Transit District. "Fort Cavazos is on track to surpass last year's urban regional ridership. We were just a little under 300,000 in the region and you guys are already at 100,000 in five months time, but it's still growing. Your ridership is still accelerating."

Derek Czanik, director of urban operations for the HCTD, said the statistics help to determine the success of the transit system.

"We look at things like wait times, overall rider satisfaction, cancellation rates, boardings per hour," he said. "Those are some major, major ways we can tell whether we are successful or not. The Cavazos Connector is doing exceptionally well."

Since its inception, the Cavazos Connector is quickly approaching 100,000 riders. According to the Hill Country Transit District, no other public transportation system in the U.S. has had the ridership the Cavazos Connector has had so quickly. The growth curve of service acceptance and ridership is approximately two times the national average, indicating the high demand for the service.

"Through last week we have been averaging just a little bit over 10 riders per service hour; whereas the national average is somewhere around 5-and-a-half, 6," Czanik said. "As well as average wait times - when we launched the system our goal was to go 30 minutes average wait time during peak and 40 minutes off peak. We're currently averaging somewhere around 10 to 12 minutes of wait time, which is exceptional. The growth (of the Cavazos Connector) is double if not triple national average."

Currently, more than 700 rides are being provided by the Cavazos Connector daily all while maintaining a 98.2% on-time performance rate, as well as receiving 97% positive reviews by riders.

"It's phenomenal growth," Burtner said. "We couldn't be happier with it."

In an effort to continue making the service even better, some changes are being implemented and discussed.

The circulator route comprises only 2% of the Cavazos Connector's ridership, so it will be reduced to a shorter route that travels from the Marvin Leath Visitors Center to the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center to the Copeland Soldier Service Center using one of the existing circulator route busses.

"The other bus will be input into the micro-transit zones for use if there's a large number of riders needing to go to a single location or if a rider has an oversized item they need to transport," said Kelly Sandiford, Plans, Analysis and Integration Office chief. "This is a more efficient use of the transportation assets, increases the flexibility in the areas where the circulator route previously covered, and it shortens the time significantly in traveling to the visitor center where passengers can then access off-post transportation assets."

Other changes include adjusting the weekday hours to 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate the high number of riders within the 7 to 8 a.m. time frame. Additionally, the micro-transit zone will be modified to accommodate the Mission Training Complex, enabling Soldiers to travel to and from the facility.

"These changes will go into effect next week except for the change in service hours," Sandiford said. "That change will go into effect with the implementation of the Regional Micro-Transit System."

On Sept. 3 the Regional Micro-Transit System, will replace fixed route services with micro-transit services from Copperas Cove to Temple. There will be stops within the cities spanning Bell County, including the Marvin Leath Visitors Center, providing a way for Soldiers and family members who live off post to travel to the installation.

"If it's a single-vehicle family, they are limited in what they can do," Sandiford said. "I know (the Regional Micro-Transit System) is going to be received well amongst the Soldiers and their families, especially the ones living off post."

For their efforts at Fort Cavazos with the Cavazos Connector, the HCTD received Texas Transit Association's Transit Innovation Award. Burtner said the award belongs to Fort Cavazos just as much as the HCTD and expressed happiness in providing transportation for Soldiers and families at The Great Place.

"It's the first micro-transit system in the country for a military base, and it's been highly successful," he said. "We expect it to continue to grow and be more successful. We are getting phone calls from other military bases wanting us to answer questions for them as to how we did it. It's very unique in that it was micro-transit and not fixed-route service and it's also very unique in how we are connecting the base to the region and allowing Soldiers and their families on base to integrate into the community a lot more."

Sandiford agreed, saying the service began in the spirit of improving quality of life for those at Fort Cavazos, and the Cavazos Connector has indeed done that.

"Soldiers that were in the barracks - a lot of them don't have vehicles, and a lot of them don't even have driver's licenses," he explained. "Families with limited vehicles, a one-car family or when they first get here they may not even have a car - we felt we needed to have a system to connect them to all the places on the installation where they would need to go. Now we can see after five months with all the data … it clearly indicates that this was a needed service."

Sandiford concluded by saying the longevity of the Cavazos Connector is a top priority and encouraged those who haven't ridden on the Cavazos Connector to give it a try.

"Take it for a ride just to go experience it," he said. "The drivers are extremely professional, extremely friendly (and) most of them are affiliated with the military already. So, it's really a pleasant experience in my world. It's an overall great experience."

Schedule a ride by downloading The HOP app, available on the Apple App Store or on Google Play, or calling 254-933-3700. For more information, visit https://www.takethehop.com/.

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