By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Ocean City’s jitneys will be back on the road next year after having a largely successful debut in the summer of 2022.
Showing its support for the jitney program, City Council voted 6-0 at a meeting Thursday night to seek bids from contractors interested in operating the service next summer.
The benefits for jitney riders include low cost and convenient transportation that relieves them of the hassle of trying to find public parking during the busy summer tourism season.
Under a pilot program last year, the Atlantic City Jitney Association operated two routes to the Ocean City Boardwalk and downtown shopping district for a fare of just $2.
“The program was largely a success and saw total ridership in excess of 12,000 people. The vast majority of ridership was tourists, young families, teenagers and seasonal Boardwalk employees using the service to commute to and from work,” Dan Kelchner, the city’s director of Community Services, wrote in a Nov. 14 memo attached to the Council agenda.
Kelchner added that he is “extremely confident” the program will continue to improve and grow in popularity once the city further analyzes the ridership trends and expands its marketing for the jitneys.
“Therefore, I think it is in the best interest of our residents, visitors and business community to continue a Jitney Transportation Services Program in 2023,” he wrote in the memo.
Overall, the jitney program cost the city $52,224 in 2022. Kelchner said he expects the cost will slightly increase in 2023 because of an anticipated increase in ridership as well as “various factors within the economy.”
Details still must be worked out before the city launches the service for next year, including whether there will be any changes in the routes and whether the fare will remain at $2, city spokesman Doug Bergen said after the Council meeting.
This past summer, the jitneys operated the Boardwalk route seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and served the downtown district Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Boardwalk route started at 55th Street and West Avenue in the island’s south end and ran a continuous loop to Battersea Road and back using 14th Street as a crossover.
For the downtown service, the jitneys traveled along Asbury Avenue between 55th Street and Battersea Road.
The Boardwalk route operated from May 27 to Sept. 5. The downtown service started June 14 and ended Aug. 25.
During a status report last August, the city announced that the Boardwalk route was attracting about 150 passengers a day through late July. The downtown route, though, was carrying an average of only 21 daily riders through late July.
“We have some concerns about the downtown loop,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said last August while giving Council a ridership report.
In an effort to boost ridership in 2023, Kelchner said in his memo that there will be “an increased emphasis on program marketing and visibility” for the jitneys.
The impetus for the new jitney service was a 2019 economic development study that recommended more public transportation in Ocean City.
In other business at Thursday’s meeting, Council introduced an ordinance to abolish term limits for the appointees who serve on the city’s boards, commissions and committees. The ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing and final vote at the Dec. 1 Council meeting.
Previously, any members of a board, commission or committee appointed by the mayor or Council could not be reappointed after serving two consecutive full terms.
However, term limits were temporarily put on hold in late 2021 to avoid a crush of vacancies that would have occurred at the end of the year.
Dozens of unpaid appointees sit on a variety of boards and commissions that may not be generally well known to the public but are still an important part of Ocean City’s local government.
They include the planning and zoning boards, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Library Board of Trustees, the Tourism Development Commission and others.
Over the past year, Council has debated different options for board and commission terms. They included ending term limits altogether, reinstating them or having appointees serve staggered terms.
Some of the Council members indicated last year that they would favor having a system of staggered terms to create openings that could be filled by new appointees bringing fresh ideas to the city.
Other Council members expressed concerns last year about the possibility of losing too many experienced board members if term limits were imposed.
In the meantime, term limits will be abolished if the proposed ordinance is given final Council approval Dec. 1.
Councilman Bob Barr said he wants city officials to continue their discussions about the appointment process to get it “cleaned up.”
Barr also serves as chairman of the Ocean City Housing Authority, an appointed board. He explained that the housing authority has had “great difficulty” in finding enough volunteers to serve on its board despite the important role it plays in providing affordable housing in Ocean City for senior citizens and families.
“We’ve had to beg, borrow and steal to get people to apply,” he said of recruiting enough volunteers to serve on the housing authority’s board.
