County expands transit fleet

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Jan. 22, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Elderly, and those without automobiles who live in rural parts of Beltrami County may find it easier to travel these days thanks to a second bus that has been added to the Beltrami County Transit Fleet.

The bus, which began service Jan. 1, doubles the size of the fleet to two, and eliminates the costly need for volunteer drivers to provide transportation in the outer reaches of the county, said Mary Fall, Beltrami Public Transit director.

Prior to purchasing and operating the second bus, Beltrami Public Transit paid volunteer drivers 30 cents a mile to transport those who traveled outside the bus routes, Fall said. That policy proved expensive because at times volunteers would only be hauling one passenger.

Instead, the service invested the money used to pay the volunteers in the second bus, and now a full-time, paid driver and two part-time drivers handle the assigned bus routes. Volunteer drivers are now used only to transport those on Medical Assistance.

Fall said the goal is to "open up travel in all parts of the county," and she believes the policy will be more efficient. However, she won't know for sure for a few weeks until the numbers can be compared.

The older bus route that encompassed a 10-mile radius around Bemidji will be the same, and the new bus will be used on routes throughout the county.

For instance, a typical week's schedule would include stops in Debs, Aure, Pinewood, Solway and Wilton on Monday; stops in Nebish and Puposky on Wednesday; a repeat of Monday's route on Thursday; and stops in Waskish, Kelliher, Shooks, Blackduck, Tenstrike and Turtle River on Friday. Fall added that four times a month, a bus will spend the entire day in Blackduck transporting people around town.

Those interested in catching a ride but live a few miles off the bus routes may call to arrange with Beltrami Transit a pick-up time at their homes, Fall said. And those who live more than a few miles off the route can arrange to be picked up elsewhere.

The fares were kept as reasonable as possible, she said, with a round trip priced at $3.50, a one-way trip priced at $2 and additional stops outside the route priced at $1.

Fall said the majority of bus riders use the transportation to and from a job, but others use the service to attend medical appointments, to go shopping or to socialize with friends or relatives.

"It's not like we will be in Kelliher or Blackduck every day," Fall said, "but we went up to the northern part of the county only four times a month before."