A common misconception is that Great Falls Transit is a city department.

It is not.

The Great Falls Transit district is its own political subdivision under state law, as established by a public vote in the 1970s, according to Nadine Hanning, general manager of the district.

That public vote also established a mill levy to fund the district but it doesn’t cover all of the district’s expenses to provide public transportation.

The transit district has its own board of directors, three of whom are elected by public ballot, which under state law is held in conjunction with the school elections in May.

The other two are appointed, one by the City Commission and one by the County Commission, Hanning said.

“We are our own thing,” she said.

It the 1970s, there was no public transit in Great Falls and the voters asked that it be established. Voters approved creating a transit district, along with the district boundaries and a mil levy to fund its operations.

The transit district boundaries don’t include the entire city limits as they are currently, and also includes some county areas such as Black Eagle.

Paratransit service will go up to three-quarters of a mile out of the district’s boundary.

Hanning said they’re currently working on a new transit development plan. The last was done in 2010.

She said the district will be reaching out to local agencies for input and soliciting public comment.

Hanning said she’s often asked why they don’t have a larger boundary or longer operating hours.

She said they’d love to expand, but can’t with current available resources. To change the boundaries or the levy, the question would have to go back to the voters on a ballot concurrent with a school election in May.

The district had a roughly $4.8 million budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022.

During that fiscal year, the district generated $951,042 through the general property tax; $180,640 for the permissive medical levy; and received $262,700 from the state entitlement share for a total of $1,396,182 in tax revenue.

The district’s total federal revenue was $3,184,292 for the last budget year.

She said there’s always interest in providing more transportation to people with disabilities, but it’s an expensive operation.

Hanning said another common question is why the district hasn’t raised fares in years.

She said they raised fares once in her two decades with the district and the increase in revenue wasn’t enough to offset the drop in ridership.

A regular single bus ride is $1 and paratransit is $2 per ride. There are discounts for students, seniors and those with disabilities and children under five ride free. The district also offers punch cards and monthly passes.

The local chapter of Disabled American Veterans pays for veterans rides monthly.

The majority of their riders are transit dependent, Hanning said, in a largely car dependent community.

The district began bus services in March 1982 and has tracked monthly ridership ever since.

For March through June 1982, there were 155,213 rides on the fixed route buses.

Over the life of the transit district, from March 1982 to May 2023, Great Falls Transit has provided 17,809,368 rides on fixed routes.

In May 2023, there were 29,257 rides on fixed routes.

Paratransit rides are tracked separately as they use different vehicles and different funding.

During COVID, ridership dropped, but Hanning said the fixed routes have bounced back to 75 percent of pre-COVID levels and paratransit is higher.

In May 2023, paratransit provided 5,499 rides and by that month had provided 52,661 rides for the fiscal year, without June’s numbers included yet, according to district data. That was a 35.8 percent increase so far over the previous fiscal year.

The district tracks paratransit rides as ambulatory versus nonambulatory to indicate what type of vehicles and equipment the district needs when making fleet purchases, Hanning said.

Paratransit is typically in vans and a door-to-door service. Hanning said the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that a bus service must accommodate those who are disabled and can’t use the bus.

The district uses an eligibility and certification process for those using paratransit or who qualify for reduces fares on the fixed route buses.

The district board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Aug. 21 for a work session at the main transit facility, 3905 North Star Blvd.

At 6:30 p.m. Aug. 23, the board is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on setting their mill levy, followed by their budget hearing then the regular board meeting.

The district is restricted to the same inflationary factor that local governments have capping their increase on property taxes. That factor is half the average rate of inflation for the prior three years.

The district can also use the permissive medical levy to raise revenue to cover the cost of employee health insurance premiums with a formula regulated by the state.

Hanning said the district had an influx of federal funding during COVID and used that to raise wages for employees, which are under a collective bargaining agreement. She said they also gave hazard pay to bus drivers during COVID while the mask mandate was in place.

The district carries a cash balance to cover unexpected expenses, but don’t currently have a policy on how much cash they must hold in reserve.

Hanning said they receive some federal funding for capital expenses, but that it’s likely the district will have to establish a capital improvement fund in the future to cover major expenses like fleet replacements and facility improvements.

When she first started at Great Falls Transit, the entire bus fleet was the same age, with 1991 buses, and they had to replace many vehicles at the same time. She said they have since developed a fleet replacement scheduled and have an asset management plan, as required with federal funding.

Hanning said they’re working to add a trip planner feature on the district website, but it’s more difficult since they use a flag stop system, meaning that if it’s safe to do so, a bus will stop and pick up a rider anywhere along a bus route if they’re on the side of the street where the bus doors open.

She said they’re hoping to grow ridership, but many don’t understand the local transit system.

Most people figure it out once they use the system and she said she knows riders who have used transit since they were children and have extensive knowledge of the system.

Hanning said transit staff have offered presentations at the downtown transfer station and for local groups on how to use the system and the programs available to them. During that program, they have disability forms available, can issue reduced fare cards and show people how to use transit.

She said that’s something she’s hoping to offer on a regular basis.

They’ll also take school classes on a field trip. They’ll pick students up on a bus, brings them to the transit building, talk to people at the transit district, see how it works and take them back to school.

“I hope we’re here for a long time,” Hanning said. “We’re here for the people.”