Humboldt city council looking at options to improve transportation in the city. (file photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Doug Lett

Humboldt transportation problems

Seeking a ride in Humboldt

Oct 24, 2022 | 2:00 PM

These days, if you are looking for a ride in Humboldt and you don’t have a car, you may be out of luck. There is no taxi service in the city of 6,000, no bus service, and no ride sharing options like Uber.

“The city did have a taxi service, it was operating up until Covid,” Humboldt City Manager Joe Day said.

He noted the pandemic imposed so many extra rules on taxis that the service ended up shutting down.

Now the city received a $50,000 Rural Transit Solution grant from the federal government to look at transportation options.

“Because we don’t currently have a taxi service operating, and we don’t have a public transit system we believe that there is a demand,” Day said. “We hear from individuals and occasionally a few of the agencies that they feel there is a need for more than what there is.”

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One of those agencies is the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation, which recently launched a program that utilizes the city’s mobility van to get some patients to health appointments. Executive Director Lorrie Bunko said the program was launched when Community Mental Health and Addictions noticed people were missing appointments.

“So aside from having no taxi service, there are just some people that don’t have the financial resources or very few if any people to reach out to, to be able to pick them up,” Bunko said.

Day said the city hired Dillon Consulting to do the study. Dillon is a national consulting company.

“We’re looking to find out what the community needs for transportation services and see if there’s a role for the city in filling that gap,” Day said.

In November Dillon will do a series of meetings with various stakeholders. Day said council hopes to have the final report by February of next year.

Day said the cost of a full transit service is likely too high. But there are other options, such as the city’s mobility van program.

“One of the front running options could be where it’s both a mobility van type of service, and a tele-ride or call for a ride type of service,” he said. “Kind of a hybrid between a transit service and a taxi service.”

“Our mobility van is a good size, a full size van that can probably take six to eight wheelchair restricted people, and it’s not that often that we are filling that van up,” Day added.

Day added in the past few years, Humboldt spoke to several ride-sharing companies like Uber, but so far nothing has come of it.

“We have spoken to two or three different companies that do provide those ride-sharing services,” he said adding “Humboldt being the size it is creates a few difficulties or concerns for them.”

He said council will look at the report when they get it in February, and make a decision on what options to explore further.