Flagstaff Progress 2016

THE ECONOMIC SURGE

In the past year, Flagstaff has seen major growth across sectors and throughout the community. We look at some of the numbers and trends.

BOOM FOR THE MARKET

The real estate and construction sector is showing major growth signs and better health after a challenging time during the recession.

ARTS ARITHMETIC

An economic impact study by the Flagstaff Arts Council looks to show how much the creative communities of Flagstaff bring financial dividends to town.

PROGRESS Page. 6

FLAGSTAFF | 2016

Page. 14

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The

Economic Surge B y th e D aily Sun Staff

A

lthough economists continue to be cautious about the pace of the recovery in Arizona and the U.S., all signs in Flagstaff point toward a robust year economically, led by tourism, forestry and health care.

The most recent good news is that the majority of the 60 jobs at the now-closed Golden Eagle Distributors facility will be preserved under new owner Hensley Beverage Company.

The following are other positive indicators that appear to be driving an economy that’s already on the upswing during the past two years.

Jobless rate Coconino County’s jobless rate in January 2016 was 6.6 percent, down from 7.5 percent the year before. That’s still higher than the state and U.S. rates of 5.6 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. But the trend is in the direction of local job growth, especially as the state economy and budget recover. After losing 313,000 jobs in the recession, Arizona employment is now just 4,000 jobs shy of peak employment in December 2007. Major local employers like FMC, W.L. Gore, NAU, FUSD, and city and county governments along with federal agencies have stable workforce levels – the 60 positions that NAU eliminated last year due to state budget cuts were out of 3,000 on the Mountain Campus.

Population

Sales and BBB taxes

The U.S. Census counted 65,870 Flagstaff residents on April 1, 2010,

These are not only running ahead of last year but ahead of city

and the latest federal estimate puts the mid-decade population at around

projections, leading to an estimated $3 million municipal revenue surplus

70,000. That’s growth of 6.3 percent in a half-decade, ahead of the state’s

by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Some of that will be eaten up by

overall pace and most other Arizona cities, too.

higher health insurance and retirement system costs, but most of the rest

2000

will go back into pay raises and thus re-circulated in the economy.

Flagstaff

Fiscal Year Amount % Change 09-10 $4,920,203 -2.2% 10-11 $5,260,919 6.9% 11-12 $5,569,566 5.7% 12-13 $5,883,663 5.8% 13-14 $6,259,688 6.4% 14-15 $6,700,000 7.0% 15-16 $6,700,000 0.0%

Coconino County

FISCAL YEAR

Bed, Board & Beverage Tax

10

$4,920,203

11

$5,260,919

12

$5,559,566

13

$5,883,665

14

$6,259,688

15

$6,700,000

16

$6,700,000

0

1.0

2.0

MILLIONS

6

PROGRESS 2016

3.0

4.0

5.0

Arizona

2010

2014

52,894

65,870

69,391

116,320

134,421

135,695

5,130,632 6,392,017 6,581,054

Sources: Arizona Department of Administration and U.S. Census Bureau

6.0

7.0

8.0

Information for Charts and Graphs provided by the City of Flagstaff Annual Budget and Financial Plan 2015-2016

Fl a g s ta ff e co n o my set fo r ro b u s t yea r

Major capital spending

Private business

Although there are no major highway projects or government buildings under construction this year, Northern Arizona University has a new

lost payroll due to the closing of the Walgreen’s distribution center last

dorm about to break ground and several large apartment complexes in the

year. A major supermarket, Haggen, closed, but REI, Tractor Supply and

city of Flagstaff are either under construction or in the planning pipeline.

Sportsman’s built new stores, and a Farley’s (a grocery store that carries

And thanks to new road repair taxes passed by city and county voters

Costco products) is ready to move into the market. Harkins is on the move

in 2014, nearly $20 million a year is being spent for the next decade on

to the Flagstaff Mall, and a new Marriott is set for downtown. There are

materials and payroll, tax money that rolls forward through the economy.

also more shops and offices planed for along Soliere at Country Club and

Fiscal Year 2016 Capital Improvement Program Airport 1.2% Information for Charts and Graphs provided by the City of Flagstaff Annual Budget and Financial Plan 2015-2016

The spending on roads helps to make up for the $30 million a year in

Solid Waste Stormwater Utility 1.5% 4.7%

Growth Indicators Business Licenses Retail Sales Stormwater Utility Primary Net Assessed Solid Waste Value

Wasterwater/ Reclaimed Water 9.3% Water 7.6%

along Milton on the site of the current DMV.

2000

2010

2014

5,440

9,762

9,746

1,238,195,104

1,787,828,409

1,933,385,777

399,244,815 813,239,868 694,728,330

Airport

Tourism

General Government The Arizona Cardinals departed from NAU several summers ago, but Wasterwater/Reclaimed Water 44.4% Bed, Board and Beverage tax receipts never missed a beat, rising every

BBB 5.9%

year, even during the depths of the recession. The Grand Canyon finally

Water surpassed five million annual visitors last year, and with the National FUTS 4.0%

Park Service celebrating its centennial this summer, 2016 will be even busier. This is also an Olympic year, which means plenty of world-class BBB athletes and their families will be training at 7,000 feet this spring and summer. And the winter season is no slouch, either, now that Snowbowl FUTS

Streets/Transportation 21.4%

has gone to artificial snowmaking. Many are now expecting a second airline to move into Pulliam Airport before the end of the year.

Streets/Transportation

General Government $41,693,352 Streets/Transportation $20,079,247 FUTS $3,758,780 BBB $5,495,737 Water $7,128,780 Wastewater/Reclaimed Water $8,778,593 Airport $1,130,577 Solid Waste $1,393,000 Stormwater Utility $4,372,553

General Government

$93,830,695

2016 PROGRESS

7

Photo By Taylor Mahoney

Intangibles The shock to real estate values in Timberline-Fernwood and Doney Park after the Schultz fire of 2010 and subsequent floods has worn off, and values have begun to recover. And the city of Flagstaff and the Coconino National Forest have industrial-scale thinning projects underway that

New Resources

could help revive the region’s wood products industry while protecting against catastrophic fire and flooding. Private investment in the science

The Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology,

and technology sector is bolstered by federal grants to NAU scientists, and

or NACET, opened what it calls the Accelerator in July. It marked a next

new access to health insurance through the Affordable Care Act is driving

big step in promoting entrepreneurship in the parcel of the city known as

more hiring and spending in the health care sector.

Innovation Mesa. Since around 2008, NACET has managed the mesa’s

The two major economic concerns for greater Flagstaff remain

business incubator. But the accelerator offers more space and room for

unchanged since before the recession: High housing prices compared

growth, in essence a place for incubator clients and upstarts to graduate

with wages and salaries, and a relatively high childhood poverty rate. A

to before becoming fully founded. Stacey Button, the former economic

robust nonprofit sector, however, is addressing the latter as well as other

vitality director for the city, played a key role in getting the accelerator

social safety net challenges in ways that are an economic strength, not a

off the ground — along with the city’s other well-known Stacey: Stacey

liability. The year 2016 won’t see those challenges abate, but Flagstaff’s

Brechler-Knaggs. The latter helped secure the grant funding for the $7.7

overall economic capacity hasn’t looked this good since the last pre-

million project.

recession year of 2007.

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PROGRESS 2016

P

The

Big Moves Forward

T

Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce Championing Grow th and Prosperity

By Seth Muller

he staff of the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce has found itself with a great task: to advocate for the local business community and for economic growth and prosperity. And, in recent years, it has worked to keep up with expansive growth, changes and demands within the community.

the local and statewide economy.

Revenues are up and cash flow is evidently greater than in many years in the recent past. Visitation to Flagstaff is above the average level for the rest of the state which bodes well for local businesses in the entire community and especially

The Chamber was founded in 1891 and is, this year, celebrating 125

for restaurants, attractions like the Museum, Sunset Crater, hotels and

years of work in the community that dates back close to the earliest

of course the wonderful small businesses that define our character.

founding of Flagstaff. As the city readies for a new era, we asked some

In addition, the Greater Flagstaff Chamber runs a manufacturing

questions of President and CEO Julie Pastrick about the latest trends and

roundtable called the Northern Arizona Manufacturing Partnership. This

news of our recent growth and what she sees as the Chamber’s role.

group meets quarterly and we are told that most are exceeding their

Seth Muller: How would you describe the past year of economic

production quotas and some are viewed as the most successful operations

growth and development in Flagstaff. What have been some of

in the corporate structure which can largely be attributed to the

the highlights of this growth and what sectors have seen the

prosperity of the Southwest, which is a heartland for the U.S. compared

strongest surge?

to other regions of the United States.

Julie Pastrick: Overall the business community is optimistic about

Continued on page 17

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

A private, non-profit, member business organization advancing a strong and vibrant economy by advocating for business and serving as a catalyst for community and economic development in the greater Flagstaff region.

Building business, building community for 125 years.

101 W. Route 66 Flagstaff | AZ 86001 | (928) 774-4505 | info@flagstaffchamber.com | flagstaffchamber.com 2016 PROGRESS

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Enrollment Hitting Big Numbers

NAU Student Population Continues to Grow

By Corina Vanek

N

orthern Arizona University set a record for fall enrollment in the 2015-2016 school year, and there is no sign of slowing in sight.

Photos by Taylor Mahoney

Over the past 10 years, NAU enrollment on the Flagstaff campus increased by more than 7,000 students, to the current total of 20,839 students on campus.

The increase from the 2014-2015 school year’s total of 19,913 represented about 5 percent more on-campus enrollment, and the first time enrollment on the Flagstaff campus reached over 20,000 students.

The total number of incoming freshmen increased to 5,141 in 2015, compared with 4,765 in 2014.

NAU officials touted that the 2015-2016 incoming class had the highest grade-point average of any incoming class, with an average GPA of 3.42, NAU spokeswoman Cindy Brown said.

“Our commitment to Arizona is represented in this outstanding incoming freshman class,” NAU President Rita Cheng said in a press release in August. “Its diversity and distinctiveness evidence the important and changing nature of our state and the communities we serve. I’m delighted to see that NAU continues to be a university of choice for so many new and returning students.”

Enrollment for minority students has also increased.

Latino enrollment increased 10 percent in total, and 22 percent of incoming freshman are Latino, Brown said.

Native American student enrollment increased by 13 percent, and there was a 15 percent increase in the number of Asian students enrolled.

Enrollment of graduate students increased by about 2 percent, up to 3,905 from 3,823 last year, Brown said.

The Arizona Board of Regents set a goal for NAU to enroll 25,000 students on the Flagstaff mountain campus by the year 2020, and recently set a larger goal for the university to enroll a total of 34,909 students with all campuses counted. However, the regents have not yet specified how many of those students are to attend classes on the Flagstaff campus.

Brown has said in the past that NAU is on track to achieve the 2020 goals, despite Cheng initially telling the regents that an enrollment increase of that size in the midst of a $17.3 million budget cut might not be a feasible goal.

The 2025 projection represents a 27.4 percent increase from the current total of 27,396 students enrolled at NAU across Flagstaff, all satellite campuses and online.

“We expect a significant amount of growth in Personalized Learning, our online, competency-based program that continues to expand with new degree programs,” Brown said.

Brown said NAU leaders plan to approach growth in collaboration with the city and the community.

“President Cheng has emphasized ‘smart growth,’ which includes managing the campus infrastructure as well as effects on the surrounding community,” Brown said. “It’s a collaborative approach that emphasizes a balance of needs, resources and quality of life.” P

2016 PROGRESS

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Across the County

Growth and Expectations in Coconino County Abound

A

By Emer y Cowan

fter years of slow development growth, Coconino County is seeing the start of several major projects along the Interstate 40 corridor and in the Doney Park, Bellemont and Kachina Village areas, according to the county’s community development department.

In August, county supervisors approved a 61-lot subdivision in the Timberline-Fernwood area, which is the first new subdivision to be proposed in Coconino County in at least seven years. A month later, in September, the board approved a plan from Navajo Nation Shopping Centers Inc. to build a mixed use development next to Twin Arrows Casino.

The 70-acre Outlook at Glittering Mountain project calls for restaurants, stores, hotels, an entertainment pavilion, an expansive green lawn and potentially hundreds of homes just west of the casino. At 400,000 square feet, the amount of commercial development laid out in the proposal could rival the Flagstaff Mall, said Jay Christelman, community development director at the county.

County Supervisor Mandy Metzger noted the significance of the Glittering Mountain project, saying it “really is creating a new urban rural area and we don’t do that very frequently in this county.”

16

PROGRESS 2016

As part of the county’s work to revamp its zoning code, officials are changing regulations to strengthen dark sky protections and expand flexibility when it comes to residents’ ability to keep livestock in their backyard and build accessory dwellings. A recently approved comprehensive plan puts a new emphasis on sustainability as well as emerging economic trends like e-commerce, home-based businesses and publicprivate partnerships.

In an area where streams and rivers are nearly nonexistant, groundwater remains a contentious issue. With much of the county reliant on aquifer supplies, several development plans and project proposals in places like Pittman Valley and Fort Valley have met resistance from residents concerned about threats to their shallow aquifer supply.

Coconino County also is at the heart of the first phase of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), one of the largest forest health projects in the country. The project, however, has yet to produce the acceleration in forest thinning that was initially promised. Part of the reason the project is still struggling is because the industry required to cost effectively and efficiently process biomass like small trees, branches and treetops is lacking.

That material must be removed from the forest under the largest 300,000-acre contract within the 4FRI project. That makes it a challenge for contractors required to dispose of that material to create an economic business model, said Joe Luttman, a forester with the Flagstaff Ranger District.

On the transportation front, with the passage of a threetenths-of-a-cent sales tax in November 2014, Coconino County projects it will be able to spend an additional $5 million to $7 million annually on road projects.

The work not only addresses much-needed repaving and infrastructure improvement projects, but also provides the resources for a 30 percent increase in road maintenance on school bus routes on the Navajo Nation. Maintaining the dirt roads is crucial for tribal members to get to work and school or haul water to their homes. P

Continued from page 9 Manufacturing and tourism both have seen surges and restaurants are stating that they have been experiencing some of the best revenues

rivals any other nationally, it is no wonder that Flagstaff bubbles up for any and all age demographics as a place to consider to live and work.

in history of operations. Small business has enjoyed a surge of spending by homeowners and residents alike that fuels their product lines and

SM: What economic indicators does the Chamber focus most

service options. Many small businesses are expanding their products

on in terms of measuring the growth and expansion of the

due to consumer spending habits being on the uptick, which is a very

regional economy? What have you seen that’s notable among

welcomed sign of economic recovery. Small business is the heart of

these growth indicators?

our community. When business is healthy, the rest of the community

JP: The Chamber looks at multiple economic indicators in measuring

prospers as well. Job retention is very strong and hiring is at a peak level

growth and expansion of our economy. According to the US Census

not seen since the recession years of 2007-2009 when we lost statewide

Bureau since 2000, Flagstaff’s population has increased about 23 percent,

almost 300,000 jobs. We have now fully recovered those losses and

which averages to a mediocre 1.5 percent annually. However, just last year

unemployment has dropped locally as well as statewide.

our growth was measured at 3 percent, which definitely is an uptick and

Recently Forbes magazine ranked Arizona the number one state for

a great indicator of economic stability in the region. The private sector

job growth in 2016 and we certainly are part of that picture in the high

relies on a predictable and consistent business environment when looking

country. I anticipate that this upbeat private sector trend will continue

to locate, invest, or expand. We are doing things right and according to

throughout the year. Although Flagstaff’s unemployment rate still tends

our regional plan which was a well thought out document with many

to be a bit higher than the state’s, it has been decreasing steadily over the

locals sitting on the panel to create it.

Housing starts and new commercial development are the most notable

Photo by Jake Bacon

last year, which proves new jobs are coming into the community.

SM: What are some of the current factors or influencing trends

areas of growth. Flagstaff is in a growth mode with 7,000 new residential

that are impacting the local economy? Are there any surprising

and mixed use housing units/rooms either currently under construction

trends or changes in the past year you have noticed?

or pending approval from the City. Commercial development is also

JP: There really aren’t surprises as much as there is consistent growth

booming as there are currently over 800,000 square feet of new

in our strong suits. Flagstaff hosts a manufacturing sector that makes our

development projects pending. Our present real estate development

community a tad recessive proof because the products they are making

opportunities should provide great jobs throughout the community for

are needed despite the economy. Napkins, paper towels, toiletries, pet

many years to come and it also adds to the City’s tax revenue base which

foods, medical devices, ice cream cones, packaging for medical products,

pays for needed infrastructure improvements.

machines to manufacture medical devices, outdoor recreation products, and plastic containers for food products and more. This trend is strong

SM: Where do you hope to see the greater Flagstaff area in the

and we should stand on firm ground within this business sector as long

next five or ten years? What are some missing or underserved

as we can work on providing the skilled talent they need to fill their

aspects of our economy you would hope to see grow? What are

vacancies and meet their business models.

some needs you think should be addressed?

Flagstaff continues to earn numerous national accolades that rank us

JP: In the next five or 10 years, I really hope that Flagstaff remains the

at the top of the country for best place to live, best college town, happiest

same quality that we enjoy today. The Chamber doesn’t have high hopes

place to live, most recession proof economy, cycling mecca, running

that we become anything way different because we have enjoyed such

mecca and many other rankers by magazines and researchers that pay

a blissful and wonderful way of life in this desirable mountain town,

attention to quality of life and what makes one locale stand out amongst

that changing just for the sake of change, isn’t really necessary. We

many. Our crisp, clean air, high elevation, and beautiful mountain setting

hope that locals can stay gainfully employed, that purchasing options

are enviable. But, when you add to those a stand-out university, bustling

over a rainbow of pricing choices are available and that jobs continue to

arts and cultural environment, a ski area, Native American influences

grow steadily to keep up with the pace of business growth. In the end, if

from many tribal nations bordering Flagstaff and private industry that

Flagstaff prospers, we all prosper.

P 2016 PROGRESS

17

Visitors Rise ON THE

Flagstaff Experiences Year-Over-Year Growth in Tourism

By Seth Muller

Photo by Jake Bacon/Arizona Daily Sun

18

PROGRESS 2016

Information for Charts and Graphs provided by the City of Flagstaff Annual Budget and Financial Plan 2015-2016

I

n 2013, the CVB reported a banner year in the tourism economy, a big, resounding boom that the erosion of visitation during the recession had come to an end. The three measurements they use— Bed, Board and Beverage or BBB tax revenues, revenue per available room at hotels and average daily rate at hotels—showed it was the one of the best years for tourism in a decade.

It might have been a bump that came in a year of a country coming out of a recession, but then 2014 happened. Although the numbers did not include November and December as of press time, the results for the year to date were impressive. And after that, 2015 carried a 74.4 percent occupancy rate on hotel room, besting 2014 by 6.3 percent.

“Compared to 2013 and 2014 we continued to see substantial increases and actually beat the state in highest percentage increase,” said JoAnne Hudson, public relations specialist with the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It is really too early to know how 2016 will turn out. With several years of significant increases it would be natural to see that slow a bit, but we still anticipate an increase over the previous year. One very good sign from 2015 is the 15.2 percent increase in Revenue Per Available Room. This indicates that our hotels are able to charge higher rates on average and generate higher revenues.”

The outlook though for this year could be promising as the cost of gas, though rising somewhat from a low point, is still relatively low. This tends to prompt more cross-country and regional travel. “Our largest target audience is Phoenix due to the drive market and climate relief angle … We also have efforts in southern and northern California, Texas, Chicago and Las Vegas,” Hudson noted.

Also, there has been a recent spike in Grand Canyon tourism brought on by additional international travel and life in the postrecession. The national park experienced its first five-million-plus visitor year in 2015.

“Flagstaff’s visitation certainly mirrors that of Grand Canyon National Park,” Hudson said. “Flagstaff offers a vibrant nightlife that the Grand Canyon does not have. This is a great mix as visitors can go to the canyon during the day and head back to Flagstaff for an evening

Retail Sales 3.1%

Bldg Rent Revenue 0.4%

Interest 0.3%

Misc 0.5% Interest 0.2%

Fund Balance 60.2%

Fund Balance 22.5%

Tourism Revenues Other Resources

BBB Tax $2,010,000 Fund Balance $616,155 Retail Sales $85,000 Building Rental Revenue $12,652 Interest $6,563 Miscellaneous $13,261

$2,743,631

of entertainment as well as enjoy the amenities of our hotels.”

Although the direction of the lines these days are favorable, the CVB is not just relying on the general trend and hope it brings a boon for Flagstaff. In recent years, the Bureau has launched an imaging campaign to capture the spirit of Flagstaff and attract visitors. They have put focus on regional travelers to the area from the Phoenix metro area and southern California in particular. The regional visitor accounts for 54 percent of Flagstaff’s tourism base, according to studies.

“When we did our re-imaging campaign, the thing we were trying to capture was the Flagstaff vibe,” Hudson said. “And you’re always trying to get people to explain what that vibe is … Going into our new ad campaign, we wanted to show that offbeat, quirky nature of the city. That was the goal.”

The campaign has included a number of fun slogans such as, “If you were a dog, you’d wag your tail off,” “If you were a snowflake, you’d hang around longer” and “If you were an egg, you’d fear no sidewalk”—the latter a reference to the adage that people can fry eggs on sidewalks in the summer in Phoenix.

Although the campaign was a fun nod to Flagstaff, the initiative holds the serious goal of drawing more visitors to Flagstaff and creating the sense that the city and its surrounding attractions are a great destination. To put it in perspective, studies show that tourism generates as much as $393 million in direct spending per year for the Flagstaff area.

“We sell the idea that we’re a hub-and-spoke destination, and the Grand Canyon is a big spoke in that,” Hudson said about getting out the message of Flagstaff’s main draw, particularly to international tourists. “But we push that we have the mountain town opportunities here in Flagstaff … We are looking at so many different markets and it’s different from country to country what people want. But the big thing we hear a lot and that we try to push is that Flagstaff is an authentic town and not touristy place. And people really like that about us.” P

Interest

Building rental Revenue

Fund Balanc

Miscellaneous

BBB Tax

Retail Sales

BBB Tax 28.3%

Information for Charts and Graphs provided by the City of Flagstaff Annual Budget and Financial Plan 2015-2016

BBB Tax 39.5%

Interest

Recreation Revenues Other Resources

Fund Balance BBB Tax Revenues/Other Resources BBB Tax Fund Balance Interest

Appropriations Public Works Contingency

$2,211,000 $3,374,807 $16,900 $5,602,707 $2,469,216 $2,357,989 $4,827,205

Interest 0.4% BBB Tax 52.9%

Fund Balance 46.7%

Interest

Fund Balanc BBB Tax BBB Arts & Sciences Revenues/ Other Resources

Revenues/Other Resources BBB Tax $502,500 Fund Balance $444,019 Interest $4,185

$950,704 Appropriations Economic $815,044 Contingency $10,000

$825,044

2016 PROGRESS

19

implemented 20-minute frequency on Route 2, a crosstown route that serves downtown, FMC, BASIS, Coconino High School and the Flagstaff Mall. This enhanced level of service has resulted in increased ridership on Route 2, as it has become more convenient than ever to travel across town via transit.

NAIPTA installed automatic people counters on all of its vehicles, which are tied in with the farebox system to provide our Planning team with robust ridership data that we can use to analyze service needs and changes. We can drill down to the boarding and alighting at a particular stop at a specific time of day, to determine if our current level of service is adequate for a particular route. This data has enhanced our ability to make educated decisions about service changes and the needs of our riders.

Transportation

on t he

Go

Mountain Line Transit Becomes the Circuitry in an Expanding Town

By Seth Muller

W

hile the city of Flagstaff, Coconino County and Northern Arizona University stand as major entities when one thinks of the community at large, another core agency that has been at the forefront of town growth is the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority, or NAIPTA. It’s the governing outfit for Mountain Line.

Few local entities have experienced the kind of growth as Flagstaff’s most prominent form of alternative transportation and its related services. To catch up on all of the milestones and numbers, I shared some questions of Jeff Meilbeck, general manager of NAIPTA. Seth Muller: What have been some of the biggest improvements of Mountain Line from 2015 forward? It seems like the state-of-the-art garage is a big one. Can you talk about that and how it’s improved operations and also talk about other notable upgrades?

Jeff Meilbeck: The addition of a new 25,000-square-foot bus storage facility and automated bus wash has had a tremendous impact on NAIPTA’s operations. Not only are buses shielded from the wear and tear of the elements, there have also been operational efficiencies with the time it takes to prepare vehicles on mornings with inclement weather.

Frequency, or how often a bus will come by, is the cornerstone of growing transit service and ridership. In August 2015, NAIPTA

20

PROGRESS 2016

SM: What ridership numbers did you have for 2015?

How much did that change from the previous year?

What are some factors influencing ridership these days?

JM: Mountain Line had 1,879,151 riders in 2015, which is a slight increase over 2014. As gas prices declined over the past year, many transit organizations around the country have experienced double digit decreases in ridership. NAIPTA continues to weather that storm, and even experienced record ridership numbers in February 2016 with nearly 197,000 riders, which is a 12 percent increase over 2015.

SM: Can you share how much positive impact Mountain Line is having for the NAU campus? What have those ridership numbers been like and what are you hearing from the university officials about the role Mountain Line has come to serve at NAU? JM: Mountain Link (Route 10 that goes through the NAU campus and is free for NAU students) continues to be NAIPTA’s highest ridership route, with nearly 738,000 rides in 2015, a 5 percent increase over 2014. As NAU’s enrollment continues to grow, so does the demand for student housing, both on- and off-campus. This growth put pressure on the Mountain Link system to transport more students to and from campus, and within the campus itself. NAIPTA worked closely with NAU to analyze class schedules and reviewed our own boarding and alighting data to see how we could better use our existing resources to meet peak demand. As NAU and the Flagstaff community continue the dialogue on student housing, transit continues to rise to the top as a viable solution to many of the congestion issues Flagstaff faces as the enrollment grows.

SM: Mountain Line also looked to start up a kind of carpool system for people who live in outlying communities such as Williams and Winslow. Has that project come into focus? If so, what are you seeing preliminarily as far as the success of the program?

JM: The Mountain Line Vanpool program has really taken off in recent months, as more northern Arizona employers

and commuters are realizing the financial and environmental benefits of ride sharing. As of right now, we have one vanpool between Flagstaff and Winslow of pharmacists who work at the Indian Health Center, with another vanpool ready to go. We also have two vanpools with North Country HealthCare to transport their dental clinic employees between Flagstaff and their satellite locations in Winslow and Ash Fork. Our Mobility Manager is actively working with entities like Twin Arrows, Tuba City, Grand Canyon tour operators and area national parks to establish additional vanpool service.

SM: As Flagstaff grows and expands, what future routes, services or other areas of improvement are you looking at for the next three to five years?

JM: NAIPTA has many service enhancements and large-scale innovative projects on the horizon. This summer we will be launching new fare payment options to make it easier than ever to ride the bus. Not having exact change is one of the biggest impediments to transit ridership, so we are removing that obstacle by launching a mobile payment app.

Instead of dropping money in the farebox, riders will be able to purchase the fare on their mobile phone and scan the barcode upon boarding. In addition, we are also adding the ability for riders to reload passes online and launching a new ‘stored value’ pass product that allows riders to load a certain dollar amount onto a card as opposed to just loading a 30-day pass. This is a more flexible option for the occasional rider.

One of the most-requested service enhancements we receive is to offer later service. NAIPTA is currently in the middle of a public comment period—closes June 1st—about several service changes for January 2016, one of which would be later Friday and Saturday service on Routes 2 and 10. This will be especially important as the Harkins Theatre moves to its eastside location this fall and employees and movie-goers will need transportation options. P

2016 PROGRESS

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