Cincinnati Metro honors driver for spotting, helping missing Alzheimer’s patient

Scene

Meeting convened in the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA)boardroom, sixth floor, 525 Vine St. The meeting, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., began about 9 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. There were several empty seats in the general public section of the room. The meeting adjourned at 10:02 a.m.

Board members

• Blake Ethridge, chair
• Sara Sheets, vice chair
• Andy Aiello, CEO and GM (executive leadership team)
• Tianay Amat
• Jay Bedi (absent)
• Tony Brice Jr.
• Chelsea Clark
• Dan Driehaus 
• Trenton Emeneker (absent)
• Kala Gibson
• Neil Kelly
• Briana Moss
• Pete Metz
• Greg Simpson (absent)
• Kazava “KZ” Smith (absent)
• Sonja Taylor (absent)

CEO Star Award: Delmaro Dowell

Delmaro Dowell, driving his coach (Route 16), saw a man who fit the description of a missing person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Dowell stopped, talked with the man, kept him safe on the bus, then called authorities. 

“I just try to do my job and look out for people,” Dowell said, relating that when he was 8 or 9, his grandmother went missing while looking for his uncle. He said he thought she had been missing for three days. She was gone a couple of hours, his mother told him. 

“When I saw this fella, I could tell he was in some sort of distress,” Dowell said, noting he sometimes is a little slow responding to text messages from Metro. He said he called dispatch to make sure the man was the one who was listed as missing. The man was returned to his nursing home. 

Dowell has been with Metro for 20 years, CEO/GM Andy Aiello said, explaining that the CEO Star Award is for Metro employees who go above and beyond. The SORTA board gave Dowell a standing ovation, certificate and gift.

Chair Update

Board Chair Blake Ethridge encouraged everyone to attend the Metro Operator Career Fair in Queensgate on Aug. 23. Participants are given the opportunity to drive a Metro bus for a short distance, on property. “So many of our solutions, our performance, our ability to serve the community, come from having the right people there to do it,” he said.

Ethridge said he and board member Tianay Amat attended the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) conference recently and learned there are a lot of transit agencies in bad shape financially, some to a greater degree than Metro. He learned from a legislative briefing at the conference held in Washington D.C., that the feeling from experts there was that nothing([in the way of federal dollars) would happen and there would be a continuing resolution to that end, he said.

The World Cup and other big events are coming, he said. L.A. Metro is asking every transit agency in the country to volunteer at least two buses for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. “We have several years before that happens, but that was a surprising ask,” Ethridge said, noting, ”they did say they would take operators as well.” That comment drew laughter from the sparse audience in the boardroom.

Finally, Ethridge said he had “great meetings” with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Purval and Hamilton County Commission President Denise Driehaus last week about the issue of operator safety and excitement surrounding BRT (Bus Rapid Transit).

Agenda

Action Items [7 items:]

1. The board unanimously approved the minutes from the June 24 meeting

Finance Committee (Chelsea Clark/CFO Tim Walker): Since June, revenue overall is $15.8 million (up $796,000 or 5.3%) and is trending upward. Ridership up 5%compared to the same period last year. (5,605,580 regular riders year-to-date [YTD]) ; 873,000 CPS riders; 87,351 Access riders; and 62,708 Metro Now! riders.

Metro took in $1.6 million ($21,000 or 1.3% over budget), but spent more than expected for the month – $14.2 million ($337,000 or 2.4%). Capital surplus for the month YTD was $1.5 million ($459,000). County sales tax for the month is up year over year ($11.227 million vs. $10.636 million in 2024).

Walker said 75%of Metro’s revenue is from the county sales tax, an amount Metro cannot control. “It’s like a gift,” he said.

YTD, the county sales tax is $60.775 million vs. $57.759 million ($2.4 million under budget from a year ago).

Operating capital is $2.913 million vs. $2.402 million in 2024.

The 2025 Ohio sales tax holiday is expected to be a full two weeks, so Metro will have to wait to see how many dollars will be lost. In 2024, the school sales tax holiday was eight days.

“We saw a decrease we weren’t expecting,” Walker said. Metro received an added payment from the state a few months later related to that holiday, but no one could answer that question (he did not disclose the amount). There is a three-month delay in reporting sales tax revenue.

“Our budget was built on a longer holiday like we had last year, but not a full two weeks. We’ll have to wait and see. I don’t know whether we will get another gift like we did last year. We’re expecting a lower number. We can adjust that as we go along,” Walker said.

Planning & Ops Committee Ethridge said he is amazed at progress CPS, the city and Metro have made regarding bus service for students. \“It’s a lot of work,” he said. The project added 12 schools, and color-coded passes will be used to help bus drivers understand what kind of journey students should be on – direct route, transfer or after-school programs, he said.

There are several changes coming in August. Route 8 will be new. Routes 2, 16, 19, 20 and 37 will be altered..

     Procurement Consent Agenda: (the board unanimously approved items 2 – 7)

2. Medical Services Contract extension (Bethesda Healthcare, Inc., dba TriHealth Corp.): $1,132,570 for seven years

3. Trapeze Scheduling Software (Trapeze Software Group): $2,890,296 for six years

4. Fleetwatch Upgrade (S&A Systems): $500,737 for one year

5. Temporary Labor Services contract (Robert Half Govt.): $703,282 for three years

6. Diesel Exhaust Fluid contract (PetroChoice LLC): $217,800 for one year

7. Northside Transit Center Information Monitors (Message Point Media of Alabama): $131,246 for three years.

Paratransit Committee: Board member Neil Kelly said the committee is hoping to create a national model regarding customer service where all passengers with all abilities are treated as individuals – not treating challenged passengers differently. Training materials will be changed and updated.

One-seat ride pilot: The service that launched in May is off to a slow start, Kelly said. There are 44 enrolled riders, six are active and he called one a “super rider” (someone who has taken 15 of the 40 total trips offered so far). He explained that the average trip distance is 30 miles (Butler County to northern Kentucky) and the average time is 62 minutes. The cost is $8 a ride. The service is offered from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The paratransit committee is discussing offering a more flexible time for people who might want to ride in the evenings, to shop, for example.

EZ Connect: The one-call center has fielded 507 calls through May. 

The Access program is improving on-time performance (94% in June). Access and Metro Now! have hired 120 drivers (up 42%).

Metro has an overall goal to cut preventable accidents to 24 a year. There have been nine YTD, Kelly said.

Board Member Dan Driehaus said Metro has equipped one of its fixed-route buses with new technology (an internal side mirror camera). 

Briefing Items [4 items]:

8. Financial results for June 30 (Tim Walker) [see earlier discussion above]

9. Progress and Priorities: Reinventing Metro will be on the street soon, Aiello said. 2025 has been a good year with respect to the Statehouse, which is making $85.5 million available throughout Ohio for transit agencies. The National Transit Database requires transit agencies to report certain data to the federal transportation administration.

The transit company’s preventable accident rate for 100,000 miles is 0.81 (57 accidents vs. 88 YTD represents a 35% reduction). Overall driver headcount is inching toward 550 (maximum).

10. 2025 Strategic Plan Update Process (Ethridge/Sara Sheets): The board is about to embark on a months-long process to assess Metro.

11. New Business: None

The meeting adjourned about 10:02 a.m. The next meeting is 6 p.m. Aug. 26. 

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