SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Tahoe Transportation District is seeking input on their next five years by providing a public comment period on its Short Range Transit Plan, or SRTP.

Through the plan, TTD is tasked with outlining transit goals and priorities for the next half a decade while also remaining consistent with its Long Range Transportation Plan, which covers 20 years. The short range plan must also align with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s Regional Transport Plan.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration requires an SRTP every 5-7 years. The TTD board approved their last short range plan in 2017.

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The district operates fixed-route public transit on the south shore of Lake Tahoe as well as other services, including an extended complementary paratransit service, and commuter and visitor transport to outer-lying areas.

The district recognizes the reality that mobility needs and desires on Lake Tahoe’s south shore exceed the revenues available to them. While the district benefited from a large influx of pandemic era support funds, those balances will soon be exhausted and their drafted plan states that transit will need to evolve to persist.

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“The most viable path forward depends on securing sustainable funding and aligning with the region’s long-term goals,” Jim Marino said, TTD Deputy District Manager.

Within the draft plan, the district has laid out three scenarios. The first scenario assumes there’s no replacement for the reduced funding and outlines changes to accommodate.

Some of these proposed changes could take place as early as spring 2025. The first change shortens TTD’s Route 55, which currently runs from the Kingsbury Transit Center to the South Y Transit Center. The proposed change would discontinue service west of Lake Tahoe Community College. By 2029, TTD could discontinue Route 55 altogether.

Also in scenario 1, Route 22 would continue to run from the Douglas County Community Senior Center in Gardnerville to the Stateline Transit Center, but would no longer service the Tina/Tramway Drive and Tramway/Quacking Aspen Loop stops.

Another proposed change would discontinue the paratransit extended service area, and would no longer serve portions of Pioneer Trail, and the Meyers, Christmas Valley and North Upper Truckee areas.

This scenario also lengthens Route 50 headways from 30 minutes to 60 minutes by 2027.

The only addition within this scenario is contingent on TTD, Douglas County and Carson City reaching an agreement to reinstate Route 21 from South Lake Tahoe to Carson City

Scenario 2 takes an optimistic approach and imagines possibilities with additional funds and charts a course for expansion. That horizon includes Route 55 transitioning to microtransit, while maintaining Route 50’s 30 minute headways and reinstating a South Lake Tahoe to Carson City route. By 2028, this scenario would expand Incline to Spooner services with 30 minute headways in the summer.

Scenario 3 is less of a scenario like 1 and 2, and instead discusses potential considerations and options that are not clear enough yet for TTD to develop a service plan. However, the district feels the impacts of these considerations should be explored. Some of those considerations include the expansion of microtransit with Lake Link in which a zoned microtransit system integrates with fixed routes.

Another one of the considerations is now a very real one and involves navigating transit with the newly formed South Shore Transit Joint Powers Authority. The JPA had been in discussions for month leading up to the release of the plan, but was recently approved by the City of South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County in October.

“With challenges like the JPA formation and fluctuating funding, adjustments will likely be needed to keep the plan responsive to the community’s transit needs,” Marino said.

Once the JPA completes its business, capital, and operations plans, TTD anticipates the need to amend the short term plan. The amended plan will detail partnerships and pathways forward for the JPA and TTD to continue to deliver transit at Lake Tahoe.

The public can review the full draft of the plan at tahoetransportation.org/projects/short-range-transit-plan/.

Comments can be emailed to SRTP@TahoeTransportation.org or provided at the upcoming TTD board meetings taking place Nov. 6 and Dec. 4. The comment period ends Dec. 4.