Mike Toronto, Transit Director for START Transit, called into the Weekday Wake-Up to discuss changes to stop times and route schedules, along with a free ride week in June.

(0:00) Weekday wake up on the SVI radio network. (0:03) And now join joining me over the phone today is Mike Toronto. (0:06) Mike is the start transit director and of course the, the busing service from (0:11) star Valley and around Teton County with start transit, Mike, good morning.

(0:15) Thanks for your time. (0:16) How are you today? (0:17) I’m doing well. (0:18) Thank you.

(0:19) I appreciate you joining us at some changes coming to start as far as the, (0:23) the route schedules that I think is going to be a big benefit (0:26) to our star Valley listeners. (0:28) So first off, just tell us about yourself and how long have you been with a start (0:32) transit? (0:34) Uh, so I’ve been the director of start transit since August of last year. (0:38) I came from the Utah transit authority before that, where I ran fixed bus (0:44) service in the Salt Lake Valley.

(0:46) Wow. (0:46) So UTA is quite the operation. (0:49) And so going from that to, to start, that’s probably a little bit (0:52) of a different job jump for you.

(0:55) Yeah, I had about 650 employees at UTA and, uh, 250 buses coming here and (1:01) having roughly 40 to 50 employees and about 27 buses. (1:06) So big change, but beautiful area to live. (1:08) So it’s worth it.

(1:09) Absolutely. (1:09) We’ll start about, uh, let’s talk about start buses. (1:12) I know that, uh, that’s been a service.

(1:13) A lot of people utilize going to and from Teton County, uh, from the star (1:18) Valley area, and it sounds like some changes to the schedule of these buses (1:22) that you’re hoping will benefit people. (1:23) Tell us about it. (1:24) Yeah.

(1:25) So we did a revamp of our schedule, uh, for the spring season. (1:29) So we’re up in Jackson. (1:30) We run off of fall, summer, spring, and winter, um, seasons.

(1:35) So starting in April, we want to be launched a new schedule and (1:39) are keeping it through the summer. (1:40) We have a better arrival time for those that start at nine o’clock. (1:44) Previously, you’d get to work over an hour before your shift starts.

(1:47) We push that back. (1:49) Same with our six o’clock departure time. (1:51) So that it, it, it connects people that are closer to a seven o’clock, eight (1:56) o’clock and nine o’clock shift start time.

(1:59) So just more convenience, it sounds like, and it gets people to where they need to (2:03) go on the time that they need to be there. (2:05) Uh, anything else regarding the schedule changes? (2:08) Do you expect this to be just through the spring or do you expect this to continue (2:11) on through those other schedules in the future? (2:14) We expect to continue on. (2:15) We’ll always make adjustments based on feedback from people, ridership trends.

(2:20) So in the future, we may, um, see opportunities to improve it further. (2:25) Um, the nice thing about the schedule changes is we also changed, uh, departure (2:29) times from Jackson to help people get home, um, at a more steady interval. (2:34) It used to be that all of our buses left within the same hour, it’s more (2:37) spread out to accommodate more shifts.

(2:39) So people have more options for leaving Jackson as well to get (2:42) back down into Star Valley. (2:44) Speaking with Mike Toronto this morning, he is the start transit director. (2:48) Mike, along with this, it sounds like you’re doing a free (2:51) ride week coming up soon.

(2:53) Tell us about that. (2:55) Correct. (2:55) So June 1st to June 5th is free, um, rides on the commuter bus.

(3:00) So if you get on, you will not be asked to pay a fare. (3:03) You do not need to purchase anything in advance. (3:05) You just show up and take a ride on the bus, both to and from Jackson (3:09) Monday through Friday of that week.

(3:10) Excellent. (3:11) So pretty good deal there. (3:12) And I understand these, these buses do have wifi on board now, right? (3:17) They do.

(3:18) Uh, we have wifi. (3:19) It’s easy to connect. (3:20) Once you get into snake river Canyon, it can be a little spotty.

(3:23) So if you’re like me, when I ride the bus, I’ll download work or I’ll (3:27) download a movie prior to getting to the Canyon. (3:29) So I continue to work or enjoy that commute. (3:32) Perfect.

(3:32) Uh, tell us the best way for people to find that full schedule, the (3:37) stops, the times and everything. (3:39) Where do they go? (3:40) So Google start bus will be the first thing that shows up when you get there. (3:45) Uh, we have a section on our page for schedules and for maps and also fare (3:50) information on how much fares cost and where you can purchase them.

(3:53) You can also download the transit app on Apple or any type of Samsung device, (3:59) Android device, and the transit app. (4:02) You can purchase tickets. (4:03) You can see the location of the bus, and you can also see the schedule.

(4:07) Tell us more about where these routes go to once, once they get into (4:10) Teton County, because it’s not just Jackson, it goes to the resorts, (4:14) to Wilson, correct? (4:15) I mean, it, it really takes you all around Teton area. (4:18) It does. (4:19) Uh, and that’s one of the improvements to our schedule.

(4:21) We, we planned our trip so that there’s the best connection to our (4:25) town shuttle and the village shuttle. (4:27) So once you get to Jackson, when you get to Albertsons and Maple way, you (4:30) can connect to our Teton village routes to get out to the village for work or (4:34) our town shuttle routes to get around the town, the commuter bus also, once (4:38) it gets into Jackson after Albertsons, it goes down Pearl Avenue and then (4:42) makes a loop by the hospital and ends at snow King. (4:45) So you can really get anywhere that you need to.

(4:47) We also have the on-demand service up there that once you get off, it’s a free (4:51) ride on demand, we’ll pick you up in East Jackson and drop you off wherever (4:54) you need to in East Jackson. (4:56) Mike, you mentioned the free wheat coming up, uh, outside of that, when (5:00) people are paying for their, for their travel on start bus, I assume (5:04) there’s different options, right? (5:05) You can do, I assume just a one day pass, or can you do like a bundle or is (5:11) there a discount if you’re going to be riding it every day? (5:13) Great question. (5:15) So you can purchase one trip when you get on the bus, it’s $8 one way.

(5:20) Um, if you’re a senior, someone over 60, it’s half off. (5:24) You can also purchase 10 tickets for $42. (5:27) So that’s quite a discount.

(5:28) Um, you can purchase that on the transit app, or you can come into start (5:32) bus and purchase those 10 tickets. (5:34) You can also purchase a one month pass, which is roughly, it is $105. (5:39) That’s roughly one to two tanks of gas that you could spend.

(5:44) And that’s for an entire month, as many trips as you want. (5:46) And again, you can purchase that on the transit app at town (5:49) hall or at the start facility. (5:51) Man, when you compare that to the price of gas right now, and then even a lot (5:54) of those places that we’re going to maybe charging parking as well.

(5:58) So yeah, it sounds like a good deal. (6:00) Uh, Mike Toronto start transit director, Mike, anything we missed (6:02) you’d like to touch on today? (6:05) No, I would encourage people to try our service, especially on that free week. (6:08) Um, get your commute back when I ride, I, I do work.

(6:13) I, I can usually count that as time towards work. (6:16) Uh, some people can talk to their employers about that, but it’s a nice (6:19) relaxing way to travel versus handling the traffic or the weather that sometimes (6:24) faces us when we commute to Jackson. (6:26) I myself live in star Valley.

(6:28) I make that commute quite regularly and really enjoy it when I take transit. (6:32) Perfect. (6:33) Mike Toronto start transit director.

(6:34) It’s the weekday wake up this morning on SVI.