The city of Portland has decided to enter into an agreement with the city of Ionia connecting transportation services countywide.
The agreement is designed to get both cities on the same page related to funding and transit services – through a legally binding contract.
Approved during the Portland City Council meeting on June 1, the interlocal agreement guarantees that the cities will gain legal protection and formal structures their current system lacks.
Portland City Manager Andrew Dymczyk says that the interlocal agreement will regularize current practices, simplifying city collaborations for the future.
“It's an interlocal government agreement between the City of Ionia for cross-jurisdictional public transportation services,” Dymczyk said. “The city of Ionia runs an I-Go service for public transit, so we are just kind of memorializing the services that our residents have received from utilizing their service. From a service standpoint, nothing is changing from the services already provided to our residents.”
I-Go is Ionia’s public microtransit and rideshare service, available through its mobile app or by phone. The app functions like a heavily subsidized version of Uber or Lyft, with a maximum cost per ride of $15.
The I-Go app is also an expansion of a larger service called Dial-A-Ride (I-DART), which only operates in the city of Ionia and parts of nearby townships. I-DART is a government-funded program, offering on-demand public transit that caters to commuters, seniors and people with disabilities.
Ionia City Manager Precia Garland further explained that the agreement is not meant to radically change either city’s laws, but to codify existing ties to Portland.
“The City’s I-Go service is already reaching destinations in Portland and we wish for the City of Portland to acknowledge this through the interlocal agreement,” Garland said. “We also recently completed two studies, the results from which Heidi plans to share with the Council that could lead to further collaboration.”
While nothing will be taken away from the services Portland residents currently benefit from, they could see new access to transit typically restricted to Ionia.
The agreement could allow Ionia to expand service boundaries into Portland, opening access to programs including the on-demand, door-to-door transit offered through I-DART.
Heidi Wenzel, Ionia Director of Transportation, also gave a presentation on the results gathered from surveys outlined in the I-DART Transit Development Plan.
“It was kind of a blueprint opportunity to have some concrete information based off of the study and what we gained from our community outreach,” Wenzel said. “[We] put together what the transit needs [are], desires where there's lacking, and that's what we'll present to the city council.”
In the findings, Wenzel highlighted the needs of what Ionia considers “necessity riders” – people who have limited transportation options due to mobility, price and other similar factors.
“The majority of our riders are what we consider necessity riders, they're not choice riders that are riding, you know, the transportation because they're ‘green’ or don't necessarily want to utilize their car,” Wenzel said. “They're utilizing transportation because without the transportation, they're having to look for somebody to provide the ride for them or not make the trip. It's definitely a benefit to individuals that don't have that same access to vehicles in a rural area.”
Officials from both cities say that the agreement will connect Portland residents with communities throughout Ionia County and pave the way for stronger collaboration in the future.
“The city of Ionia is a wonderful partner,” Portland City Manager Dymczyk said. “We're happy to see the connectivity between two cities in our county.”