Barring any last-minute delays after press time, the City of Sedona will officially launch its new on-demand curb-to-curb microtransit program on Thursday, August 29 (pun intended).
This service, first proposed when Sandy Moriarty was still mayor of Sedona and officially presented in the 2020 Sedona Area Transit Implementation Plan, was long delayed by financing and vehicle procurement issues, especially in the summer of 2022 when the supplier that was supposed to deliver the first shuttle buses stopped production. The city had agreed to purchase them in December 2021 to launch them the following summer, two years ago.
The recent delay was due to the City of Sedona still waiting to apply for several federal grants to fund the transportation system so that the vehicles comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Public transportation is inherently unprofitable. The goal is to make government-owned public transportation more affordable than private alternatives such as private taxis, shuttles, or personal vehicles. Smaller governments therefore often seek resources provided by larger governments to offset these initial or ongoing costs, or they provide taxpayer money to fund ongoing operations and simply accept the losses as the cost of providing transportation to users.
The Verde Shuttle, operated by the City of Cottonwood’s Cottonwood Area Transit program, is jointly funded by the cities of Sedona and Cottonwood.
It was formerly known as the “Verde Lynx” because all of the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority buses featured cute cat jokes, such as Flagstaff’s Mountain Line with a mountain lion motif on the side.
The Verde Shuttle is of great benefit to Sedona workers because it allows workers in Cottonwood, Clarkdale and the surrounding unincorporated areas to take a public bus to Sedona. The buses are used primarily in the morning to take workers to Sedona and in the late afternoon and evening to take them back home. Over the years, several of our newspaper’s staff members have used this service regularly.
Sedona previously had its own bus system, the Sedona RoadRunner, which operated from October 2006 to June 2011. This bus system also suffered delays in starting up because the city council at the time decided not to use the same types of buses as the rest of the NAIPTA network, instead purchasing more expensive trolleys at the last minute. The trolleys were difficult to repair, required special parts that were not interchangeable with those of the other buses, and were housed in Cottonwood, requiring daily highway travel to Sedona. The trolley route only ran from Uptown to Poco Diablo Resort, making them useless to most Sedona residents, who primarily live in West Sedona, and were geared toward tourists. Due to low ridership, the purple and sky blue shuttles died a slow death over several years.
The Sedona Trailhead Shuttle launched in 2022, but as the name suggests, it only runs from parking lots to trailheads. Also not helpful for residents who need public transportation to get to work, stores, or the doctor. Ridership has been better than the Sedona RoadRunner, but residents still have no public transportation available other than the Verde Shuttle along the state roads that cut through Sedona.
But after about five years of discussion and planning, Sedona’s microtransit system is set to open later this week. We encourage residents to give it a try. Download the TransLoc app and check that the microtransit system is working as intended.
Take a few trips to go shopping or uptown, or visit a friend across town that you would normally drive to. Take a microtransit shuttle to work and back home once. See how the app works and if it’s user-friendly. Sedona has an older population that stereotypically has some issues with apps and digital devices, so see if you can get to grips with the app and take a ride. We and other residents want to know if the city’s microtransit system works as promised in the hands of actual users.
Once you’ve taken a few rides, let us know about your experience. Did the shuttles arrive on time and as punctual as advertised? Were you able to get to and from your destinations with ease or difficulty? Did you enjoy not having to drive in Sedona traffic or will you drive your own car again? Did other users have any issues on their trip or was their ride smooth? Was the $2 fee worth the hassle? Would you recommend the shuttle service to others? Would you ride again?
Once you have thought through your views, send them to us in a letter to the editor at [email protected]. Mention how often you drove, roughly where you went and which days you used the service.
