ARNOLD, Mo. — The City of Arnold has voted not to renew a contract with Jefferson County's non-profit bus service, striking Arnold from its route and ending services for hundreds of residents.
The route will stop running Friday, said OATS Transit Inc., which took over bus service Jeffco Express in December.
The service provides 500-600 rides a month and stops at more than 30 business locations every day in Arnold, according to OATS. The city's three-year contract with the service expired at the end of 2019.
Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison said the council voted not to renew because it didn't believe the number of people using the route justified the price.
The city funded half the cost of the service, and a federal urban grant funded the rest. In 2018, the city paid $62,537 -- just shy of its max allocated budget of $65,775.
The totals haven't come in for how much the city spent in 2019, but so far it's more than $46,000.
“The council has been pruning operations and services that have been losing money," Richison said.
It's not the only operation Arnold has defunded recently. Last year, it passed on funding the Arnold Golf Club, which had been losing money since 2017. Coworking space Corridor 55 was also shuttered.
Richison said the decision seemed clear-cut for the council, with virtually no discussion at the meeting when it voted not to renew the contract.
“In general, the trend has been to want to get out of money-losing operations,” Richison said.
OATS Executive Director Dorothy Yeager said the decision would affect riders as well as businesses.
“This is unfortunate for city riders who relied on transportation to get to work, essential shopping, and business errands,” Yeager said in an OATS statement.
There is one year to bring back defeated legislation, Richison said.
Riders plan to protest the loss of bus service at Thursday's city council meeting.
5 On Your Side's Marianne Martinez contributed to this report.
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