Mayo takes heat for running employee buses through residential neighborhood

Mayo Clinic is coming under criticism from residents of Rochester’s Kutzky Park Neighborhood who say the organization’s reliance on residential streets for employee busing is impacting their quality of life.

“We are being treated as a throwaway neighborhood,” said Stephanie Podulke, a neighbor who also serves on the Olmsted County Board, during a public comment period at Monday’s Rochester City Council meeting.

Podulke was referring to an employee bus line that passes along Center Street connecting Mayo’s campuses with its West Employee Shuttle Lot. The shuttle service is contracted out to Groome Transportation.

Neighbors said the buses, which run from 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., have become intolerable due to the noise, volume, and frequency of the service.

“Mayo’s shuttle buses do not serve one person in our neighborhood, but we are used as a turnaround for more than 200 buses a day, on average every 3-5 minutes, simply because it is convenient for Mayo,” said Emily Lynch, president of the Kutzky Park Neighborhood Association.

Residents along the corridor told the council they have tried for months to work with Mayo to address the issue, but have not made any progress.

Podulke said she has spoken to others who want to speak up, but are nervous to take a public position given their roles with Mayo. She described herself as “stunned by the entitlement of Mayo” related to this situation.

“When an entity exhibits a persistent pattern of behavior that knowingly causes physical or emotional harm, and that entity is a corporation, I see it as corporate bullying,” said Podulke.

In joining the calls for the council to take action, Dr. Alan Hoffman, a retired radiologist who worked at Mayo for 37 years, said the current setup poses a risk to the health and integrity of the neighborhood. He pointed to the impact the loud diesel buses are having on people’s ability to sleep.

“While I have worked for Mayo my whole career, and I am very supportive of what Mayo does most often, in this case the Clinic’s disregard for their neighbors cannot be supported,” said Hoffman.

The council ultimately voted 6-0 to direct staff to review the situation and come back with a report about potential next steps. Already, two councilors said they have tried unsuccessfully to engage Mayo on the issue.

“I thought we were just going to be able to talk to Mayo, their different representatives, and they would see the negative impact and see that they shouldn’t do this — and that did not happen,” said Ward 1’s Patrick Keane. “So, I would be interested to see what staff would come up with.”

In a statement released to Med City Beat on Tuesday, a Mayo spokesperson acknowledged the volume of buses traveling through the neighborhood has gone up due to Covid-19 precautions. They added that there are plans in place to reduce the level of bus traffic in the coming weeks.

Below is Mayo’s statement in full:

The current number of buses using the route is higher than usual because of Covid-19 safety precautions on bus capacity, Currently we allow only 12-14 passengers on each bus to ensure proper social distancing during the pandemic. We informed the neighbors earlier this month that we are tentatively scheduled to resume operations at full 30-plus passenger capacity in early-December. This will reduce some level of bus traffic. After which time, we will explore alternative routes to provide some peak time relief to neighbors on Center Street. 

While it does not bring immediate relief to the neighbors’ concerns, Mayo Clinic is actively working with the City of Rochester towards the development and implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project along Second Street. Our long-term goal is to incorporate our transportation of Mayo Clinic employees into the BRT line.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.