Community Notes: What we have learned

By Tammy Elthon, Charles City Public Transit daily operations

This year so far has been better for the Charles City Public Transit after a tough 2020.

We have definitely faced some challenges and have learned to figure things out during a pandemic that we had no rule book to follow as requirements changed weekly.

We have discovered moving forward that we need to do things a little differently. The pandemic has forced us to realize the importance of cross-training. We became too accustomed to just having each driver do their assigned routes each day.

When illness hits you become aware that drivers possibly are only comfortable with the routes they do every day. We now have all drivers able to sub for each other on any given day. We also now have two drivers that know how to run the dispatch and computer scheduling software. This is in addition to our regular dispatcher and myself.

These seem like obvious and simple things that should have been in place the last three years, but you get into the day-to-day routine and forget about, “What if drivers are gone for an extended time?”

We learned about turning 16-passenger buses into four-passenger buses by folding up seats when COVID-19 was at its worst in Floyd County. About cleaning and spraying down the inside of the buses many times a day, not just once or twice a day. About being an essential business working our regular hours and being available when rides are needed Monday through Friday.

We continued to take people who needed to get to doctors appointments, groceries and anywhere they needed a ride.

We are not allowed to take known positive COVID-19 cases to appointments. NIACOG (the North Iowa Area Council of Governments), which sets our rules to run the transit service, says, “You do not put COVID on wheels.”

We still need to be mindful of COVID-19 safety protocols and ask all riders to take responsibility in that regard despite the governor of Iowa relaxing mask-wearing requirements. We are required to follow federal requirements by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which remain in effect until further notice.

With brighter days in our future we are now back to a new normal. We provide rides to and from all preschools. The preschoolers continue to be a joy in the drivers’ day. There’s nothing like a bus of 3- and 4-year-olds to make for an interesting ride.

We also take kids to the grade schools and middle school, while we continue to provide a service to many elderly and disabled in our community.

We are currently in the process of building out the school schedule for this coming fall school year. If transportation for your school-age child is going to be needed please call as soon as possible because we do fill up each year.

We were sorry to have not taken all the buses out for our annual “Holiday Light Tour,” but it just wasn’t safe to pack people on four buses for over an hour last December. I know we disappointed many people. We are sure hoping to be able to do this during the 2021 holiday season.

Pricing to ride the transit has not changed. We still encourage you to call in advance of all appointments so we can get you scheduled and there on time. We now print out 6 to 8 pages daily for advance scheduled rides.

One transit bus does go to Mason City three times a day and has all rides scheduled a day in advance.

The Charles City Public Transit is always looking for substitute drivers. If you have an interest, please call or email City of Charles City. We all enjoy what we do and are happy to continue helping with transportation in the area.

For tickets, questions or to book a ride, call 641-715-1314 Monday through Friday to reach the Charles City Public Transit.