LUBBOCK, Texas — Citibus is looking to improve parts of its system to help make Lubbock’s public transit more accessible, which is why they’re getting feedback from those who use it.
“For people that don’t have cars, we’re looking to give them better access to public transit,” said Citibus Transit Planning Analyst, Rebecca Rodriguez about recent public meetings.
According to Rodriguez, there are two main focuses for the improvements. One is about fixed routes, or buses on a consistent schedule, and on-demand or micro-transit zones, which is a reservation someone can make for a Citibus van through their app.
“We’re presenting for our fixed routes to further serve South and West Lubbock, and also our on- demand zones,” said Rodriguez. “Currently, the zone for on-demand is the entire city limits, and so we’re looking to break that up into smaller zones.”
Rodriguez says each bus runs just once an hour right now. With this new program, however, they’re hoping to cut those transit times in half for on-demand rides, and for a new addition, they’re hoping those times will be just fifteen minutes.
“Everybody is pretty excited about our express routes that we’re introducing, which would be a Marsha Sharp Express route and a Quaker Express,” said Rodriguez. “They’re also excited that the services to the at the West End Shopping Center and the Canyon West Plaza.”
Since August was Citibus’s busiest month since 2019, they’re hoping to keep this momentum going as they continue hearing from the community.
“It’s really important for public input in this section so that we can hear where people are wanting to go within the city of Lubbock, where they’re going on trips,” said Rodriguez. “We want to hear what they think about our new changes.”
This part of the five-year plan is expected to be in motion as soon as the beginning of next year, but if you missed any of the meetings this past week, Rodriguez said they’ll continue having meetings throughout October, and to learn more or fill out a public survey, you can find it here.
