Okaloosa County will suspend all fixed-route bus service by Aug. 1 as it shifts public transportation resources toward paratransit and Transportation Disadvantaged services.

• The suspension will occur in two phases. Routes 1, 2, 3, 20 and 33 will be suspended effective June 30, and routes 4, 5, 14, 30 and 32 will follow on July 31. Fixed-route service will be discontinued until further notice after Aug. 1.

The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize the county’s transit division to make administrative adjustments to routes, schedules and service levels based on performance data, ridership demand, operational efficiency and funding availability. The board also approved dissolving the Okaloosa County Transit Cooperative, a 2015 agreement between the county and the municipalities of Crestview, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville and Cinco Bayou, effective Sept. 30.

Tracy Stage, the county’s Airport and Transit Director, told Commissioners the cooperative never established the required methodology for municipal financial contributions to the fixed-route system, and no participating municipality had provided funding.

“Those that did sign on to be on the cooperative have not provided any methodology or any funding towards the fixed route system,” Stage said.

Stage said the transit division has saved close to $200,000 from the general fund over the past 60 days through operational changes but projected the county would still face a $500,000 hit to the general fund without further action. The fixed routes are not included in a new contract being sought through an invitation-to-negotiate process, with proposals accepted this week and the current MV Transportation contract expiring Aug. 31.

• Dial-A-Ride and ADA paratransit services will continue without interruption, and the county is encouraging current fixed-route riders to visit ecrider.org to review eligibility requirements and apply for continued transportation through those programs.

Stage outlined the eligibility criteria for the county’s paratransit services, which include individuals without access to a personal vehicle or those living outside the fixed-route service area. Commissioner Drew Palmer noted the language effectively means all current riders would qualify once fixed routes are eliminated.

“Given that is an ‘or‘ there … I believe this bullet point means that anybody who lives outside of a fixed route service area, which when we do away with the fixed routes, would be everybody, then they would qualify for this paratransit service,” Palmer said.

Palmer also asked staff to provide literature and outreach to every current fixed-route rider before service ends.

“Every single rider who uses the fixed-route services over the next period of time until those services are completely eliminated, that they receive some literature, some handout, something that says, ‘Hey, here’s what’s next,'” Palmer said. “So that we’re not leaving these individuals stranded.”

Commissioner Sherri Cox raised concerns about continued service to One Hopeful Place, which provides transitional housing and emergency shelter services while guiding unhoused individuals towards stability, self-sufficiency, and independence.

Stage said Route 5, which serves One Hopeful Place, averages 13 riders per day and is not slated for the first round of cuts but will be suspended in the second round on July 31. Cox said she believes most applicants from One Hopeful Place would qualify for paratransit services.

Stage also said the county has coordinated with Chief John Mooring of the Department of Corrections to pre-approve individuals being released from the county jail for paratransit service, removing the standard 24-hour advance scheduling requirement and application process.

• “They’ll be afforded the opportunity to make that phone call from ACR before they’re released,” Mooring told commissioners.

Stage also introduced William Higdon as the county’s new transportation transit division manager. Higdon brings more than 17 years of transit management experience, including senior leadership at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, where he managed one of the agency’s largest bus divisions.

“I’m here to put a transit agency together, work with this team, put a transit agency together that’ll be safe, reliable, and something that the board can be proud of,” Higdon told commissioners.

Chairman Trey Goodwin expressed support for the direction, calling the fixed-route system a long-standing misuse of public funds.

“I see this as the demise of fixed route, which has been a colossal misuse of public dollars in Okaloosa County for a long time,” Goodwin said. “I am so thankful that we are headed in this direction now, a direction that’s going to make this system operate more efficiently, a system that is going to get this back to being a self-sufficient enterprise and take its hand out of the pocket of the property taxpayers in Okaloosa County.”

Sales of 31-day fixed-route passes end June 1, and 15-day passes will not be sold after July 1. All passes expire Aug. 1.

More information is available at ecrider.org/dial-a-ride.