250728_Owner_Meeting-Existing_document_to_provide_interested_developers_information_about_WRTAs_TOD_project..pptx
PPTX presentation 30 MB Posted
- Attached to
- Transit-Oriented-Design Mixed Use Development
- Solicitation number
- RFQ 2025-9
- Issued by
- Mahoning County, Ohio
About this file
This document is a PowerPoint presentation by the Western Reserve Transit Authority (WRTA) providing a comprehensive transit system assessment for July 28, 2025. The presentation details WRTA's ridership trends, service performance, fleet composition, and demographic analysis of transit users in the Youngstown, Ohio region. Key insights include a 27-56% ridership increase from 2019 to 2024, with passenger trips rising from 884,557 in FY 2020 to 1,973,021 in FY 2023, and significant geographic concentration of ridership along specific corridors including Federal Station, YSU/Downtown, and Warren neighborhoods.
The analysis reveals important socioeconomic characteristics of WRTA riders, who are more likely to be lower-income, employed, people of color, and without vehicle access compared to the general population. The presentation also explores potential service improvements, including minor route restructuring, introducing microtransit options, and integrating with other transportation modes. The fleet assessment indicates 81 total vehicles, with 8 vehicles already past their Useful Life Benchmark (ULB) and 19 vehicles approaching ULB within two years, suggesting potential future capital investment needs. The data supports WRTA's ongoing transit-oriented development strategy by providing detailed insights into ridership patterns, user demographics, and service efficiency.
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WRTA Transit System Assessment July 28, 2025
Ridership Trends From 2019 to 2024*, WRTA ridership increased
27%
56% and from 2020 to 2024*, ridership increased While most transit agencies are still trying to recover ridership after COVID-19… Source: National Transit Database *NTD data not released for 2024. Estimates for 2024 provided by WRTA.
Source: WRTA 2024 Annual Ridership
2024 PASSENGER BOARDINGS BY ROUTE
2024 Riders 8 - Market 28 - Warren Express 10 - Belmont 9 - Austintown 5 - South 2 - Oak 1 - Elm 7 - Glenwood 6 - Fifth 4 - Steel 12 - Lansdowne 13 - McGuffey 14 - Mosier 11 - Cornersburg 3 - Wilson 16 - Zedaker 15 - Struthers 26 - East Loop 27 - Austintown Loop 74 - Elm 73 - West 80 - Lordstown Express 24 - Midlothian Loop 25 - Canfield Loop 240313 192233 184221 181639 149653 126632 124572 121133 109117 84739 78238 72535 58667 44339 38075 36047 33616 32104 14023 13904 9612 3750 2934 1880
Geographically, ridership is concentrated along a few key corridors in Youngstown Ridership hotspots near:
Federal Station YSU/Downtown Wick Park/5th Ave Warren (neighborhood)/Flint Hill South St and Market St Warren (city) North Heights/Belmont Ave Boardman Campbell Austintown (Walmart) Meridian Rd/Mahoning Ave
Source: WRTA 2024 Annual Ridership (some routes supplemented with 2022 and 2023 data)
Ridership data from before June 2025 service changes
Fixed Route Service Evaluation FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 % Change
(FY 2019 - FY 2023)
| General Service Measures | ||||||
| Passenger Trips (UPT) | 1,468,265 | 884,557 | 900,561 | 1,290,778 | 1,973,021 | +26% |
| Revenue Hours (VRH) | 104,298 | 98,756 | 104,111 | 103,254 | 93,442 | -12% |
| Revenue Miles (VRM) | 1,401,138 | 1,409,550 | 1,907,881 | 1,923,687 | 1,473,583 | +5% |
| Operating Expenses | $10,124,802 | $10,943,474 | $12,213,130 | $13,804,785 | $13,457,286 | +25% |
| Fare Revenue | $928,257 | $200,795 | $ - | $ - | $ - | -100% |
| Service Productivity Measures | ||||||
| Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour | 14.08 | 8.96 | 8.65 | 12.50 | 21.11 | +33% |
| Passenger Trips per Revenue Mile | 1.05 | 0.63 | 0.47 | 0.67 | 1.34 | +22% |
Source: National Transit Database. Evaluation to be updated when 2024 information available.
How did revenue hours go down 12% while revenue miles increased by 5%?
What happened in FY 21/22 that had the hours and miles increase dramatically and then reduce back to 19/20 levels in ‘23?
Why did trips increase dramatically from 2022 to 2023?
| Route Number | Route Name | Passenger Trips | Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour | Passenger Trips per Revenue Mile | Operating Expense per Passenger Trip | Operating Expense per Revenue Hour | Operating Expense per Revenue Mile |
| 1 | Elm | 124,572 | 18.16 | 1.10 | $5.22 | $94.72 | $5.74 |
| 2 | Oak | 126,632 | 17.62 | 1.07 | $5.31 | $93.53 | $5.66 |
| 3 | Wilson | 38,075 | 5.51 | 0.35 | $11.74 | $64.68 | $4.08 |
| 4 | Steel | 84,739 | 12.17 | 0.61 | $7.10 | $86.44 | $4.33 |
| 5 | South | 149,653 | 13.02 | 1.04 | $5.89 | $76.70 | $6.11 |
| 6 | Fifth | 109,117 | 15.16 | 1.09 | $5.52 | $83.72 | $6.03 |
| 7 | Glenwood | 121,133 | 11.70 | 0.78 | $6.63 | $77.61 | $5.15 |
| 8 | Market | 240,313 | 21.78 | 1.44 | $4.63 | $100.84 | $6.68 |
| 9 | Austintown | 181,639 | 14.98 | 1.03 | $5.63 | $84.37 | $5.79 |
| 10 | Belmont | 184,221 | 17.71 | 1.32 | $5.01 | $88.76 | $6.64 |
| 11 | Cornersburg | 44,339 | 6.38 | 0.32 | $11.39 | $72.64 | $3.70 |
| 12 | Lansdowne | 78,238 | 11.32 | 0.60 | $7.33 | $82.99 | $4.36 |
| 13 | McGuffey | 72,535 | 10.08 | 0.70 | $7.21 | $72.72 | $5.08 |
| 14 | Mosier | 58,667 | 8.12 | 0.41 | $9.43 | $76.59 | $3.90 |
| 15 | Struthers | 33,616 | 9.56 | 0.42 | $8.88 | $84.80 | $3.73 |
| 16 | Zedaker | 36,047 | 9.88 | 0.47 | $8.41 | $83.11 | $3.92 |
| 24 | Midlothian Loop | 2,934 | 0.60 | 0.03 | $103.18 | $61.53 | $2.93 |
| 25 | Canfield Loop | 1,880 | 0.29 | 0.02 | $179.66 | $52.01 | $3.37 |
| 26 | East Loop | 32,104 | 6.40 | 0.30 | $11.83 | $75.69 | $3.51 |
| 27 | Austintown Loop | 14,023 | 2.47 | 0.12 | $25.94 | $64.04 | $3.22 |
| 28 | Warren Express | 192,233 | 14.10 | 0.75 | $6.32 | $89.12 | $4.73 |
| 80 | Lordstown Express | 3,750 | 2.16 | 0.06 | $42.49 | $91.72 | $2.42 |
| Systemwide Average (Performance Threshold) | 87,748 (<43,874) | 11.8 (<5.9) | 0.70 (<0.35) | $6.85 (>$10.28) | $80.97 (>$121.46) | $4.78 (>$7.17) |
Bold values are those that fall below 50% (or exceed 150%, for operating expenses) of the systemwide average
Fixed Route Cost Efficiency FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 % Change
(FY 2019 - FY 2023)
| Cost Efficiency Measures | ||||||
| Operating Expense per Passenger Trip | $6.90 | $ 12.37 | $13.56 | $10.69 | $6.82 | -1% |
| Operating Expense per Revenue Hour | $97.08 | $ 110.81 | $117.31 | $133.70 | $144.02 | +33% |
| Operating Expense per Revenue Mile | $7.23 | $7.76 | $6.40 | $7.18 | $9.13 | +21% |
| Operating Expense per Passenger Mile | $1.67 | $3.00 | $3.29 | $2.60 | $2.04 | +18% |
| Farebox Recovery | 9% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | -100% |
Source: National Transit Database. Evaluation to be updated when 2024 information available.
Outstanding data request: operating expense for each route
Fleet
| Vehicle Type | Year | Quantity | ULB Year | ULB Met |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2014 | 7 | 2026 | Within 2 yrs |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2015 | 5 | 2027 | Within 2 yrs |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2016 | 11 | 2028 | No |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2017 | 8 | 2029 | No |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2018 | 9 | 2030 | No |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2019 | 4 | 2031 | No |
| Gillig 35’ Low Floor | 2023 | 1 | 2035 | No |
| Ford LTV E450 (YSU) | 2014 | 2 | 2020 | Yes |
| Ford LTV E450 (YSU) | 2017 | 2 | 2023 | Yes |
| Ford LTV E450 | 2019 | 4 | 2025 | Yes |
| Ford Arboc E450 | 2020 | 3 | 2026 | Within 2 yrs |
| New England Wheels Frontrunner | 2021 | 3 | 2027 | Within 2 yrs |
| New England Wheels Frontrunner | 2022 | 6 | 2028 | No |
| Ford Diamond Coach E450 | 2023 | 10 | 2029 | No |
| Modified Chrysler Voyager LX | 2022 | 1 | 2027 | Within 2 yrs |
| Modified Chrysler Voyager LX | 2023 | 4 | 2028 | No |
| Dodge Ram Electric RAM-Sunset | 2023 | 1 | 2028 | No |
| Total | 81 |
8 vehicles at or past ULB 19 vehicles approaching ULB within the next 2 years Most of these are your smaller, on-demand/shuttle vehicles – some operated by YSU
Just to get you thinking about capital needs, especially as we look to make service changes that may require additional vehicle purchases, etc
Ridership Trends
COVID-19
Source: National Transit Database *NTD data not released for 2024. Estimates for 2024 provided by WRTA.
PASSENGER TRIPS
Passenger Trips (UPT) FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024* 1468265 884557 900561 1290778 1973021 2021916
Travel Patterns
Based on Replica (GPS) data for a weekday in Spring 2024 Map shows the major trip flows in the region using origin-destination pairs Most major trip flows align with WRTA routes, except for:
Between Niles and Howland Center Between Austintown and Boardman Short trips within Hubbard
Follows WRTA route
Does not follow WRTA route
Major east/west flow is likely I-80 traffic Major origin-destination pairs include:
Between Niles and Howland Center Along US 422 between Niles and downtown Youngstown Between Churchill and downtown Youngstown Between West Austintown and Austintown Between Austintown and Boardman Along Boardman-Poland Rd between Glenwood Ave and I-680 Between downtown Youngstown and Boardman Within downtown Youngstown/YSU
Travel Patterns
Major origin-destination pairs for work trips include:
Between Churchill and downtown Youngstown Within downtown Youngstown/YSU Between Niles and Howland Center Between West Austintown and Austintown Between Boardman and Woodworth Most major work trip flows align with WRTA routes
Follows WRTA route
Does not follow WRTA route Analysis prior to June 2025 service changes
Who is riding?
Using Replica data, we can approximate the demographic make up of WRTA riders:
Source: Replica, Weekday Spring 2024
Compared to overall trip takers in the region, WRTA riders are:
Likely to be lower income More likely to be employed More likely to be a person of color Less likely to have access to a vehicle
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
All Trips Under $0 $0-$15k $15-$25k $25-$50k $50-$75k $75k-$100k $100k-$150k $150k-$200k Over $200k 4.9299999999999995E-4 0.108 6.3399999999999998E-2 0.188 0.17799999999999999 0.14399999999999999 0.18099999999999999 6.5299999999999997E-2 7.0300000000000001E-2 Transit Under $0 $0-$15k $15-$25k $25-$50k $50-$75k $75k-$100k $100k-$150k $150k-$200k Over $200k 0 0.25700000000000001 0.13900000000000001 0.28100000000000003 0.13 8.2600000000000007E-2 6.3299999999999995E-2 2.47E-2 2.1999999999999999E-2
PRIVATE AUTO AVAILABILITY
All Trips Three or more vehicles Two vehicles One vehicle No vehicles No data 0.28899999999999998 0.378 0.24099999999999999 6.4799999999999996E-2 2.69E-2 Transit Three or more vehicles Two vehicles One vehicle No vehicles No data 5.5800000000000002E-2 9.8699999999999996E-2 0.14699999999999999 0.66900000000000004 2.9499999999999998E-2
EMPLOYMENT STATUS
All Trips Employed Not in the labor force Under 16 Unemployed 0.51 0.35899999999999999 0.10199999999999999 2.9499999999999998E-2 Transit Employed Not in the labor force Under 16 Unemployed 0.82 0.13700000000000001 9.1199999999999996E-3 3.3799999999999997E-2
RACE AND ETHNICITY
All Trips White Non-Hispanic/Latino Black Non-Hispanic/Latino Hispanic or Latino Origin Two races Non-Hispanic/Latino Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino Other Non-Hispanic/Latino American Indian or Alaska Native Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.83899999999999997 8.3400000000000002E-2 3.5900000000000001E-2 3.0300000000000001E-2 7.5799999999999999E-3 2.9099999999999998E-3 9.4399999999999996E-4 1.5200000000000001E-4 Transit White Non-Hispanic/Latino Black Non-Hispanic/Latino Hispanic or Latino Origin Two races Non-Hispanic/Latino Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino Other Non-Hispanic/Latino American Indian or Alaska Native Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.443 0.42299999999999999 2.9000000000000001E-2 6.8599999999999994E-2 2.1999999999999999E-2 1.6100000000000001E-3 1.34E-2 0
Socioeconomic Demographics
Transit propensity analysis looks at socioeconomic characteristics to identify populations that are more likely to rely on transit More transit-propense areas include:
North Heights Warren (neighborhood)/Flint Hill West Side Warren (city) Austintown Campbell Hubbard Most transit-propense areas are served by WRTA routes, except for Hubbard and Niles
Source: ACS 2023 5-Year Estimate
Items to Explore Minor route restructuring, consolidation, and frequency changes New transit modes (microtransit) and integration with other modes (bike share, car share, etc.)
Bus stop guidance
Trips to Downtown Trips to YSU
Trips to Boardman Trips to Southern Park Mall
Trips to Mercy Health Trips to North Jackson
Land Uses
Transit-supportive land uses include:
Commercial/retail Civic campuses & universities Higher-density residential Most WRTA routes follow corridors lined with transit-supportive land uses Routes with the most transit-supportive land within a half-mile:
Route 6 (Fifth) Route 10 (Belmont) Route 5 (South) Route 13 (McGuffey) Route 9 (Austintown) Source: Eastgate COG. Analysis prior to June 2025 service changes.
Calculated the percent of land within a half mile of the route that is transit supportive
Trip Purpose Aside from trips home, most trips in the region are for shopping or work Most transit trips are for work purposes Important to serve major employers and align with work shifts Source: Replica, Weekday Spring 2024
TRIP PURPOSE
All Trips
| Work | Home | Shop | Eat | Social | Errands | Recreation | Other | School | Lodging | Commercial (freight) | Region departure | Pass-through traffic | 0.13200000000000001 | 0.35299999999999998 | 0.17499999999999999 | 8.72E-2 | 7.7799999999999994E-2 | 3.7900000000000003E-2 | 2.8199999999999999E-2 | 1.9900000000000001E-2 | 3.73E-2 | 2.5300000000000001E-3 | 4.8500000000000001E-2 | 7.6099999999999996E-4 | 6.9099999999999999E-4 | Transit |
| Work | Home | Shop | Eat | Social | Errands | Recreation | Other | School | Lodging | Commercial (freight) | Region departure | Pass-through traffic | 0.45600000000000002 | 0.26400000000000001 | 0.13 | 6.0600000000000001E-2 | 3.27E-2 | 1.9400000000000001E-2 | 1.9099999999999999E-2 | 1.06E-2 | 7.1799999999999998E-3 | 1.06E-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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