New Public Transportation Routes Now Covering More of Sioux Falls

If you have ridden the public transportation system in Sioux Falls lately you've no doubt experienced a few changes. SAM (Sioux Area Metro) has been reconfigured to increase the speed and convenience of public transportation in the city to better fit the needs of its riders.

As Dakota News Now reports, when VIA, Sioux Area Metro's new operator took over at the beginning of the year their main objective was to reimagine the SAM plan. A little over a month ago, they launched the new SAM On Demand program, taking the existing 12 bus routes in the city and pairing them down to nine.

According to Dakota News Now, a few of these new nine routes are similar to the old ones, while other routes are hitting new areas within the city. The goal is to hit the most traveled areas throughout Sioux Falls where ridership is at its highest.

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The extra buses from the routes no longer active are being used to increase frequency and headways on the new routes, with five out of nine running every 30 minutes at peak times.

So far, the new plan appears to be a massive improvement and is drawing many more positive reviews from riders, as well as Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken.

TenHaken told Dakota News Now, “This is the first time in my six and a half years in office that I have optimism about the future of public transit here. We’ve innovated and we’ve changed things in a way we’ve never seen in Sioux Falls.”

Via operations director Emily Shapiro says the newly reconfiguration routes, combined with SAM On Demand have broadened the public transportation system in Sioux Falls from 45 percent access to 100 percent.

Shapiro told Dakota News Now, “Being able to change the bus routes, make the bus routes more efficient and more direct, and more frequent is what allows us to have an on-demand program that’s sustainable. It allows you to take on demand to and from those very direct, very frequent bus routes.”

Under the old plan, in some cases, SAM riders could travel for hours before reaching their final destination.

This new plan is far from being complete, VIA intends to continue to monitor the new bus routes, SAM On Demand, and paratransit services and is always looking for feedback from riders as they look to tweak things to meet the needs of their users moving forward.

Source: Dakota News Now