On Wednesday, September 4th, City Council held a Senior Citizens, Families & Environment Committee Meeting on topics related to transit – all three items will remain in committee.

Earlier this year, the Livonia Community Transit transitioned to Liv&Go. For decades the program serviced seniors and the disabled, providing door to door transportation to doctor appointments and stores within city limits and in some cases within a mile of city limits. The new program is open to anyone age 18 and older who requires transportation within the city. Learn more here: www.livonia.gov/213/LivGo

Liv&Go relies on a digital system that uses an algorithm set by VIA. The City has made it clear that customer service is the top priority above maximum ridership; however, there have been some issues that Livonia Transit is working to resolve. A representative from VIA will be coming for in-person training to show staff how to manually override the system.

The main issue is ensuring the program prioritizes requests of riders using the service for medical needs, work and school above those who use it for ‘recreational’ use. Peak hours of usage are in the morning.

Resident concerns include:

• Scheduling with the new system
• Being on the bus for extended periods as a result of ‘non-essential’ use
• The inability to get to the Living and Learning Center
• SMARTFLEX was also brought up, it’s a micro transit system that provides rideshare for $2 per ride and is available from 6am to 11pm 7 days a week (Liv&Go operates Monday – Friday from 7am to 6:30pm at the same rate).

Following resident feedback, transit staff said they would look at reintroducing dedicated medical buses.

The Livonia Housing Commission (LHC) provided ridership data going back to 2019:

• 2019: 22,623
• 2020: 9,986
• 2021: 14,898
• 2022: 16,280
• 2023: 15,098
• 2024: 13,686 (YTD)

LHC shared that it will be hiring a new transit manager (due to retirement) and two dispatchers. Staffing for drivers (an issue brought to council last year) is stable. 3 buses are currently out of operation due to broken air conditioning.

There is a noted increase in ridership since Liv&Go was formally introduced. The current transit fleet is aging and needs to be right-sized for micro service. The LHC will look at grants for electric vehicles.