Shared ride taxi rates for Viroqua and Westby increased as part of budget process

EDITORS NOTE: An earlier version of this story stated that the Viroqua/Westby Taxi service is operated through a contract with Running Inc. That was incorrect. The contract is with Passenger Transit. Both companies are operated out of offices at 318 West Decker Street, Viroqua. We have corrected the article and apologize for the error.

VIROQUA, Wis. — The City of Viroqua’s shared-ride taxi service, which also serves the City of Westby, has increased its fares for the second time in less than a year as Viroqua finalizes it’s 2026 budget. The Viroqua City Council held a public hearing at the meeting on Nov. 25 and approved the new rates, the same night it approved the 2026 budget.

How the Service is Run and Funded

The shared-ride taxi service is operated under a contract with Passenger Transit Inc. of Viroqua, which was selected in 2023 for a five-year contract. The service is part of a Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) program intended to assist seniors and those with disabilities, though it provides rides for any purpose to all people.

The Viroqua Taxi Program is funded through a combination of sources including passenger revenue, federal and state grant funding, and a “local share” covered by the city’s General Fund (GF). The costs, including contracted expenses, minus passenger revenue, equal the operating deficit. This deficit is then offset by federal and state grants, leaving the local share as the final cost to the city. City Administrator Nate Torres noted that managing the program’s revenue is challenging because the DOT is often “delayed… in getting us both the state and the federal grants” that we receive, which tends to “inflate numbers from one year to the next”.

Two Rounds of Rate Hikes

The City of Viroqua, which administers the service for both communities, implemented two distinct rate increases within a year to minimize the local financial contribution and help balance its General Fund budget.

First Rate Adjustment (Effective February 1, 2025):

The first change occurred in late 2024, with new fares taking effect on February 1, 2025. Prior to that increase the rates had remained the same for a number of years. Mayor Justin Running noted that prior to the recent adjustments, the senior, disabled, and student rates were still only $1.75 higher than they were in 1994, when they were $1.25.

The new rates that became effective February 1, 2025, were adult $3.75, student $2.75, senior/disabled $2.50 and agency $7.00.

Second Rate Adjustment (Proposed for 2026):

Despite the February increase, budget pressures related to staying within state-mandated levy limits forced the City of Viroqua to propose a second set of increases during the 2026 budget process. This second adjustment was discussed during a public hearing on November 25, 2025.

The second set of proposed new fares, intended to “round up” the existing structure, included converting the flat $7.00 Viroqua-to-Westby fare into a surcharge added to the rider’s normal base fare.

The proposed new rates included:

The original proposal for agency fees was $10.00, but City Administrator Nate Torres explained that further negotiation with Westby led to a final compromise that raised the agency fee to $12.00. This was done to ensure Westby’s local share was manageable, as they are under the same levy limits as Viroqua. Torres outlined the negotiation compromise at the November 25, 2025, Council meeting, stating, “After good conversation (with Westby)… We came out with a solution that we thought was really our best option,” and it “got Westby to where it needed to be, so that its local share was tolerable”. The agency fee was consequently raised “from 10 to $12”.

Torres confirmed this finalized set of rates was necessary to fund the program: “In order to keep the local share to a minimum and balance the GF budget, the 2026 budget includes the following rate increases, at minimum”.

The adopted changes were projected to increase the program’s annual passenger revenue by 22.34%, raising it from $136,788 (with 2/1/25 rates) to a projected $167,343 (with new rates).