Across Winston-Salem, green city buses are tacked with posters letting riders and passersby know that the city’s transit system is “Switching Gears.” 

The Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) is aiming to improve its service with better routes and brand-new features, expanding access for riders. After the City of Winston-Salem contracted a new firm, RATP Dev USA, to manage operations and maintenance for its transit agency, WSTA is launching services that catch up with other transit networks in Greensboro and the Triangle. 

“I think providing reliable and desirable transit to the community would be amazing,” said WSTA Transportation Project Planner Maddie Burgiss. “We already have a really strong ridership base, but how can we just improve our service?” 

Route revamps 

WSTA’s biggest proposed renovations are route changes in its Vision Plan. Behind the plan, Burgiss said, there is a push to broaden the number of jobs passengers can reach in an hour when they ride WSTA’s city buses. Besides expanding WSTA’s coverage and reaching more passengers, the plan’s most ambitious goal is to slash wait times for riders. 

The agency has already seen success with its new route designs. With increased frequency already attracting better ridership on higher volume routes, the WSTA Vision aims to decrease headways to 30 minutes on most routes and even 15 minutes on others. 

WSTA is also exploring routes that connect passengers more directly to busier destinations. After Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines called on the city to review WSTA’s traditional “hub-and-spoke” system, the agency is looking for ways to bypass a connection downtown at the Clark Campbell Transportation Center on the way to their work. While Joines alluded to smaller hubs replacing downtown’s central station, Burgiss emphasized the importance of new route types such as crosstown routes that avoid stopping altogether. 

WSTA said riders already have access to more options. So far, route changes have increased the number of jobs riders can access by three times on some routes and up to ten times on others. 

“Our job access center points have changed,” Burgiss said. “We still have a huge job pool here in downtown, but how can we get people to Hanes Mall, Atrium Health and Novant Health quicker?”

Burgiss also said microtransit — on-demand rideshare services using smaller vehicles — could be useful for WSTA in the future. With these systems already expanding across North Carolina, Burgiss said more flexible ride services could complement WSTA’s existing, heavier fixed-route services in the city limits. 

“The main idea of microtransit I see in Winston would definitely be getting people to another bus line,” Burgiss said. “So, ‘how can we make that zone line up with a fixed route line,’ and then that way people have endless options throughout the city.” 

Easier access 

Getting people on board involves making buses convenient to hop on and off. For WSTA’s existing riders, Burgiss said that starts with affordable fares. The agency already offers fixed-route rides at just a dollar, and announced last month it would cap daily charges at $2 starting next year. That means Winston-Salem joins other cities like Raleigh and Greensboro, limiting how much passengers have to spend each day before enjoying unlimited rides for free. 

“I think for us, the standard dollar fare is amazing; that’s a huge base of our ridership,” Burgiss said. Whenever I’m riding the bus, [passengers] will be like, ‘We just love the city for keeping it a dollar compared to other transit agencies.’” 

The system is also integrating technology to increase accessibility and will partner with the mobile app Umo in the near future. According to WSTA’s website, the app offers cashless payment options and easier transfers to regional partner services like the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART). 

Getting people on board 

Of course, another task of WSTA’s is ensuring Winston-Salem is aware of its improvements. WSTA’s Director of Community Engagement and Marketing, Brandie Peterson said one of the agency’s biggest challenges is reaching all the right potential riders with the perks of public transit. 

“We’re trying to help the community to see that they can ride the bus safely,” Peterson said, “that it can get them where they need to go, and that we’re constantly working to make sure that the places they need to go are on our routes.” 

WSTA is also addressing safety concerns about its services, said Peterson. According to her, with new security measures, like an improved incident reporting system and a 90-minute limit on visits to the downtown transit center, loitering and crime rates are already down. 

Both Peterson and Burgiss say WSTA is particularly interested in getting young people on board. They each note that cheap and reliable transit is plenty attractive for young adults at Winston-Salem’s universities, K-12 public schools or anyone waiting to get their driver’s license. 

Besides increasing ridership and even decreasing the number of people in cars, Peterson said that young people are especially important for advancing public transit projects. She notes that growing ridership and demonstrating demand among Winston-Salem’s youth is important for WSTA’s larger goals, like bus rapid transit (BRT), that require significant community buy-in. Generating that interest, Peterson adds, starts with Winston-Salem’s younger riders. 

“The more people in that demographic that we can get to utilize the current system will help us to increase what we’re doing in the future,“ Peterson said. “Advocacy is something that is needed for the public for transit in general. Young people are advocates when it comes to that.”