Climb aboard Omaha's 'Metro'

A new name. A new logo. A new website. And 24 new buses.

Metro Area Transit, Omaha's transit authority, announced Monday that it is dropping the "MAT" name and now will go by "Metro." The new logo is a blue "M".

The transit authority is asking the public “to think differently about public transportation,” said Curt Simon, Metro's executive director. “This new image shows we are, too.”

Bus ridership in Omaha's system, which also serves Council Bluffs, Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista and Ralston, has dipped from the recent high of nearly 3.9 million passenger trips recorded in 2008. Last year, when gas prices fell, bus ridership did, too, to about 3.7 million trips.

Although the gas-price spike boosted the number of riders, Omaha area residents used to ride the bus much more often: From 1988 to 1996, annual ridership declined from 7 million to 4.9 million, according to Metro Area Transit figures quoted in a 1997 World-Herald article. The number of passenger trips obviously kept falling after that.

According to Census estimates released last year, less than 2 percent of Omaha workers older than age 16 take the bus to work.

Still, officials are trying to attract more riders. The transit authority has worked to make buses more rider-friendly by adding bike racks in front of all buses and revising and extending service on certain routes. Officials also plan to offer Wi-Fi soon at all transit centers.

Monday's press conference at the transit authority's headquarters at 22nd and Cuming Streets drew about 125 people, including about 15 drivers, members of the cycling community, U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle and Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan.

The $7.8 million cost of the 24 new buses was covered by federal stimulus funds. Simon thanked Nelson for his work over the years in securing money for the system and, especially, for funds to build the transit centers at the Westroads and Benson Park and on Metro Community College's South Campus.

The new buses are 18 percent more fuel-efficient than the buses they're replacing, which are an average of 14½ years old, officials said.

Simon noted that the receipt of the buses will help accelerate the system's fleet-replacement schedule by as much as three years, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance and fuel costs.

Transit officials decided to change the name on the recommendation of Omaha's Oxide Design Co. Transit officials decided “MAT” was attached to bad impressions and perceptions.

Also changing is the transit authority's website, now available at ometro.com. Officials say it will be easier to use than the old one.

World-Herald staff writer Kevin Cole contributed to this report.

« Metro/Region

Share