After a sustained period of time when Rock Region METRO was not able to attain enough fixed route operators to implement its R.I.D.E. 2020 — or Route Innovation, Development and Evaluation 2020 – comprehensive operational analysis plan to improve and expand METRO’s fixed route bus service, METRO began planning updated fixed route bus schedules in November 2024 to improve the passenger experience and driver experience within the constraints of the agency’s current annual operating budget. This plan was adapted mid-process in April 2025 to address a shortage of fixed route operators causing multiple emergency day-of service cuts.
The plan, slated to be implemented Monday, June 30, 2025, prioritizes preserving weekday service over weekend service, higher-ridership service over lower-ridership service, and as many pulses (coordinated schedule times that allow multiple buses to meet at a shared connection point for transfers) as possible, as well as using excess layover time in trips to improve breaks at the River Cities Travel Center for drivers. Although service has been reduced in some areas to address the number of drivers that can feasibly operate service each weekday, Saturday and Sunday, this reduction should stabilize daily service for the riders who depend on METRO to get to jobs, education, health care and other meaningful places.
The Process
METRO engaged its professional scheduling and planning services consulting firms, which have deep knowledge of the METRO fixed route system, to review and analyze one full year of service data to provide service change recommendations.
A schedule run time analysis was completed for each route, establishing new minimum layover times for each route trip and streamlining headways to create additional pulses at the River Cities Travel Center, where 13 of METRO’s 15 bus routes terminate, and the Midtown Transfer Hub, a collection of four stops along Midtown Avenue in Little Rock where four bus routes intersect. Schedule run times were increased or decreased as needed, based on historical runtime data amid multiple drivers. Service reductions prioritized weekday higher-ridership routes and considered the context of the overall system, including areas where different services are overlapped or adjacent.
METRO is hosting three public information meetings June 4 and 5, 2025 in Little Rock and North Little Rock to outline the service changes in advance of the slated June 30 launch.
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