A proposal to end Benton County’s 50-year relationship with Dial-A-Bus and bring the Benton Area Transit program in-house is moving through a planning process that county officials say could take until early 2027 before a final decision is made — but the nonprofit and its clients aren’t waiting that long to push back.
Benton County Public Works Director Gary Stockhoff said the county is currently working through an implementation plan that will examine personnel, finances, information technology and other operational requirements needed if county commissioners ultimately decide to self-perform the transit service. A draft of that plan is expected by the end of this year with a board decision potentially coming in early 2027 and any transition not occurring until Jan. 1, 2028 at the earliest.
“We for sure didn’t want to look like we’re just rushing into this,” Stockhoff said. “There’s a lot of stuff we have to do.”
Dial-A-Bus Executive Director Steven Harder, however, sees the process differently.
“We want the county to stop exploring this proposal — it’s a bad idea on many different levels,” Harder said, while acknowledging his stake in the outcome. “We really want to focus on the fact that the public, that our clients, are deeply opposed to this.”
The tension between the county and Dial-A-Bus became public at a March 2 meeting of the Benton County Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund Advisory Committee, where clients, family members and stakeholders packed the room and took advantage of the opportunity to share comments opposing the county’s proposal.
The STIF committee, which advises the county on expenditures from the state fund that’s dedicated to improving public transportation, voted at that meeting to not financially support further exploration of the proposal. Harder acknowledged the vote was largely symbolic since the county had already paid for an analysis and is not required to spend additional funds to continue its review.
Stockhoff noted that the STIF committee was not the intended venue for the implementation plan discussion — it was placed on the agenda as an informational item — and that the committee’s primary charge is developing the county’s project list for the upcoming 2027-29 biennium. The county’s recently-published FAQ page on the matter echoed that framing, stating the STIF Advisory Committee “has no authority to make operational decisions for county services and programs.”
A similar group of community members subsequently appeared at a March 17 Benton County commissioners meeting to deliver public testimony, raising many of the same questions.
How the proposal developed
Stockhoff presented commissioners in December with three options for the BAT program — continue contracting with an outside provider, self-perform the service with county employees, or pursue a hybrid approach. Commissioners appeared to favor the self-perform option.
The recommendation came out of an analysis conducted by Portland-based transportation consulting firm Kittelson & Associates, which began its assessment in 2025. A December 2025 Kittelson funding review presented to commissioners concluded that the self-perform model “most closely aligns with vision and goals” and projected a net balance of approximately $178,700 — with estimated annual revenue of $2.48 million against expenses of $2.3 million — if the county were to take over operations. The analysis assumed 17.5 full-time equivalent positions and a cost of $147 per service hour.
The move toward self-performance stems in part from compliance issues identified in federal audits. A November 2023 Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Triennial Review produced eight compliance findings and one advisory recommendation, with some findings repeated from a previous audit, primarily related to accountability and reporting. A separate FTA Drug and Alcohol Compliance Audit resulted in 36 additional noncompliance findings.
The county has noted that more than 50% of its annual operating revenue is federally sourced, making compliance critical to its funding stability — noncompliance findings must be reported on grant applications and can affect the county’s ability to secure future federal funding. A new FTA audit is scheduled for this year.
The Kittelson assessment also raised concerns about data reliability. Because Dial-A-Bus self-reports ridership and service reliability data with no independent verification mechanism and no automatic passenger counting technology, Kittelson concluded the accuracy of that information cannot be confirmed. The firm also scrutinized the contract structure itself, noting that the county prepays Dial-A-Bus a set monthly fee based on service hours, giving the contractor little financial incentive to improve efficiency since it receives the base payment regardless of actual costs. The assessment found the contract lacks mechanisms requiring Dial-A-Bus to provide adequate information for accountability and ongoing review.
Kittelson’s work also found that BAT’s demand-response service delivers 1.29 rides per hour, compared to a peer agency average of 2.66 — a significant efficiency gap the county has cited as a driver for reconsidering its service model. Operating costs are currently well below the market average, but Kittelson concluded that is largely a product of Dial-A-Bus’s volunteer driver model and below-market wages, factors the firm identified as unsustainable.
The commission work session presentation cited two primary reasons for exploring changes — challenges working with the current contractor to address noncompliance and lack of transparency in reporting, and interest in positioning the county to better leverage recent increases in transit funding.
Program dates back to 1975
Dial-A-Bus was founded in 1975 as a volunteer-driven transportation program for seniors and was later formalized under contract with the county when an ADA component became required for the city’s bus system.
Under the current arrangement, Dial-A-Bus serves as the operations contractor for Benton Area Transit, providing drivers, dispatchers and supervisors. Services include two fixed routes — the Coast to Valley Express, which runs between Newport and Albany, and the 99 Express between Corvallis and Adair Village — as well as three demand-response services — BAT Lift Countywide, BAT Lift Paratransit and DD 53, which provides transportation for people with developmental disabilities.
While Dial-A-Bus staff operate the system, Benton County owns and brands the vehicles, and dispatchers and supervisors work out of county-owned office space using county-owned equipment. The contractor employs a mix of paid and volunteer drivers.
Beyond the BAT contract, the nonprofit operates a range of additional services independently, including its own demand-response transportation open to any Benton County resident, group and event shuttles, medical transportation for Linn County residents and student transportation for multiple school districts. In March 2025, Dial-A-Bus announced it was expanding its own ride services beyond those it provides under the BAT contract, citing growing demand and a commitment to filling gaps left by past funding shortfalls.
Harder disputed the foundation of the county’s analysis, saying it was conducted by a firm whose contract explicitly prohibited it from obtaining information from Dial-A-Bus directly.
“It was a very incomplete analysis,” Harder said. “They just took the information that the public works director gave them.”
He said the staffing cost under the self-perform proposal — projected at $2.3 million — compares unfavorably to the approximately $984,000 the county currently pays Dial-A-Bus for staffing, and argued the county would be building an entire program from scratch without existing infrastructure.
Among the concerns raised by Dial-A-Bus and its clients is the potential for longer ride times. The nonprofit has said seniors and people with disabilities could see average round-trip times increase by one to two hours, citing a previous county experiment with in-house dispatch software that the organization says failed.
Stockhoff confirmed that a ride-batching software system was launched and later abandoned after encountering resistance and technical problems with the county reverting to the dispatch methods currently used by Dial-A-Bus. He said new software options will be evaluated as part of the current due diligence process.
The county’s FAQ acknowledged that some service changes would occur under a self-perform model. Riders could expect county employees rather than Dial-A-Bus volunteers as drivers, and some trips could shift from individual taxi-style service to shared shuttle-type rides. The county said it does not intend to reduce overall service levels — in fact, it said it hopes to provide more rides — and emphasized that BAT services would not be eliminated regardless of the outcome.
Commissioner Gabe Shepherd said at the December meeting that his top priority was ensuring BAT service levels are not reduced.
What comes next
Stockhoff said the county plans to conduct public outreach in the coming months, including possible work sessions and special meetings. As mentioned, a dedicated webpage for the project has been published and includes a link where those interested can sign up for BAT updates.
“We’re trying to get everything populated (online) so that we can start the outreach and make sure that we’re presenting that information to the public in a way that we’ve got the answers,” Stockhoff said.
The county’s FAQ states that public listening sessions will be scheduled for this summer and will be advertised extensively.
Harder said the nonprofit and its stakeholders plan to keep the pressure on well before any formal public process begins.
“Our clients have no intention of waiting until the summer to continue to engage with the county about their opposition,” he said. “People are strategizing how best to continue to oppose this and bring the public pressure to bear on the county.”
Dial-A-Bus currently operates out of the county’s Sunset building alongside county transit vehicles. Stockhoff said the county has discussed the possibility of the two organizations continuing to share that space regardless of the outcome, noting that Dial-A-Bus holds separate contracts — including those with school districts — that would not be affected by any BAT decision.
A final decision on the BAT service model, if the process proceeds on schedule, would likely come in early 2027 and be incorporated into the county’s 2027-29 biennial budget.