Iowa City council to discuss Sunday bus service

People may soon be able to catch a city bus on Sundays in Iowa City.

At a work session Aug. 30, the City Council will discuss whether it wants to add Sunday bus service.

Buses currently run the rest of the week, and over the years there have been various requests to add Sundays.

A petition signed by more than 900 people calling for Sunday service  was submitted to the council in April. Supporters said there are many people who would benefit, particularly low-income residents without cars who work or run errands on Sundays.

“Iowa City keeps getting bigger and bigger with more and more bus-dependent people and the bus service hasn't kept up,” Quinn Dilkes told the council.

As a starting point for Monday's discussion, Chris O'Brien, the city's director of transportation services, suggested Sunday service mirror Saturdays, with nine routes that run 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

That would cost an estimated $350,000 to $400,000 annually, he said in a memo to the council. He estimates that ridership would be about 690 each Sunday.

Bus drivers, mechanics and maintenance personnel have their concerns, however. A group of them that make up the Transit Advisory Group say that while they are not opposed to adding Sunday service at some point in the future, now is not the right time.

They say there are a number of current routes, including downtown and at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, that need attention immediately because they have a lot of riders and buses often run behind schedule.

“We are recommending that before any more resources are spent on expansion of service, the city needs to address the inadequacy of the current service,” they wrote in a letter to the council.

O'Brien said that his staff has discussed providing more frequent service to busy routes and expanding service in other areas, and Sunday service would be competing for the same funds.

Ridership on Iowa City's fixed routes surpassed 1.9 million last fiscal year, according to preliminary figures from the Johnson County Council of Governments. Iowa City, Coralville and University of Iowa transit systems served more than 6 million riders combined.

Coralville buses do not run on Sundays, but the UI's do.