Flathead County commissioners at their March 7 meeting voted unanimously to name Elizabeth Wood the new transit director for the county, replacing the retiring Dale Novak.
Wood moved to the Flathead in 2010 and began working with the county’s transit department, then known as Eagle Transit, in 2017. She oversaw the department’s marketing and worked as a dispatcher. In 2019 she served as the Glacier National Park shuttle coordinator when the county partnered with the park to provide transportation services.
“It’s great to be given the opportunity to step in as director, and to be honest the transition is pretty smooth because I have such a good staff here,” Wood said. “I can honestly say my job as director is just to be a GPS for our staff and steer them along. The drivers and dispatchers are the wheels and engine that keep the system driving.”
The new leadership is the latest in a number of changes the department has seen over the last two years, which included moving Eagle Transit out from the purview of the county’s Agency on Aging, shifting from fixed routes to an on-demand pickup system, complete with a mobile app, and rebranding the department as Mountain Climber.
“There was a perception in town that we were primarily a service for elderly and disabled folks,” Wood said during the change to Mountain Climber in late 2020. “Rebranding lets the community know that we’re here for everyone, and it makes the service more user friendly. We’re not leaving anyone out.”
Now, Wood says the system is working efficiently in its new model and is reaching a broader cross section of the Flathead’s population, with ridership made up of 47% general public, 26% elderly riders and 27% riders with disabilities. Previously, ridership skewed much more heavily toward the elderly and disabled.
“We’re just getting a lot more folks with the on-demand system because we’re able to pick people up where they are,” Wood said. “The early mornings and later evenings are getting busier because we’re taking lots of folks to work now, which is really exciting.”
While not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, Wood said the numbers have been steadily increasing ever since the on-demand app launched six months ago. In January and February, Mountain Climber averaged at least 15 new riders each day. Wood added that ridership is on track to exceed 7,000 this month, the highest since the pandemic hit.
“With the fixed routes we saw lots of people who were regulars on the bus, but with the on-demand service we’re getting so many new community members,” Wood said. “And with that, we’ve really been able to keep our satisfaction rating, if you can call it that, up. We perform a really efficient service and want to keep those standards.”
Wood said service in Columbia Falls and Whitefish is currently stretched thin due to a lack of drivers, but she’s hopeful the department will be able to add a new driver in Whitefish soon.
With the continued increase in fuel costs in recent months, Wood thinks people will turn more toward public transportation options, adding that Mountain Climber runs a cost-effective service with a substantially lower cost-per-ride than the national average.
“There’s always going to be a need for public transportation,” Wood said. “We’re just looking to continue doing what we’re doing, and keep an eye on what the needs are in the valley.”
Public comments about the county’s transit services are always welcome and the bimonthly meetings of the Transportation Advisory Committee, which next meets on April 7 in the county’s South Campus Conference Room.
To learn more about the Mountain Climber services, visit the Mountain Climber Facebook page or the county website https://flathead.mt.gov/mountain_climber/index.php. To schedule an on-demand ride, call dispatch at (406) 758-5728.