The Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority reported a 58% ridership increase in its Call-A-Ride Saipan demand responsive shared ride service in fiscal year 2021 compared to last fiscal year. <\/p>\n
COTA\u2019s total ridership in fiscal year 2021 reached 14,735 trips\u2014the highest it\u2019s ever been since the inception of the program in 2011. COTA\u2019s ridership last fiscal year 2020 was 9,314 trips. <\/p>\n
Part of the increase in ridership is also due to the recent increase in fuel costs in the CNMI. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor fiscal year 2021, we have seen an increase of our community members who have personal cars but would rather take the Call-A-Ride Saipan demand responsive shared ride program to reduce their fuel costs and save money at the gas pump,\u201d said Operations and Maintenance coordinator Ernie Bell. <\/p>\n
COTA also recorded a 67% increase in its revenue farebox collection in fiscal year 2021 for a total amount of $45,130 compared to fiscal year 2020. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe increase in collected revenue for fiscal year 2021 stems from COTA\u2019s partnering agencies like the Center for Living Independently, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., Kagman Health Community Clinic, and the Division of Youth Services assisting their consumers with their transportation needs,\u201d said Finance coordinator Maegan Agulto. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026[This] proves that a state transit system, in partnership with other government agencies, the private sector, and the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force, can modernize and improve the ridership opportunities to better meet the needs of the communities we serve,\u201d said special assistant for public transportation Alfreda Camacho Maratita. <\/p>\n
COTA continuously supports the CNMI Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force with Emergency Support Function-1 Transportation duties and responsibilities. As of Sept. 30, 2021, COTA has transported 23,850 passengers under the CNMI Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force since March of 2020. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe data for both the Call-A-Ride ridership and the COVID-19 transportation counts provide a small picture of the great work being provided by COTA. Alfreda and her team have worked extremely hard this last year to respond to community requests for rides, as well as continuing to remain dedicated to our COVID-19 Task Force as vital parts of our operation to keep the community safe. Everyone from the bus drivers to the office staff should be commended for their excellent work,\u201d said Gov. Ralph DLG Torres. <\/p>\n
COTA has created a transit disinfection team and adopted best practices to thoroughly disinfect transit vehicles to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the CNMI community. COTA reassures the community that it disinfects its transit vehicles every day and is committed to passenger safety during every transit ride. <\/p>\n
For more information about COTA\u2019s public transportation services, call COTA\u2019s One- Call\/One-Click Transportation Resource Center at (670) 664-2692 or visit their website at www.cota.gov.mp. (PR)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority reported a 58% ridership increase in its Call-A-Ride Saipan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":353266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[460],"class_list":["post-353265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cota"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}