NRoute Financial Crisis in Vicksburg: Meeting with City Officials

NRoute financial crisis Vicksburg. VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) – Representatives from NRoute met with city officials at the Robert M. Walker building Wednesday, Sept. 9.

NRoute is the City of Vicksburg’s public transportation system and has been facing financial and insurance issues within the last year.

NRoute board member Bobbi Bingham Morrow stated to Vicksburg’s Mayor Willis Thompson, “There have been a lot of problems, we admit that.”

NRoute has been in financial distress for most of 2026. Executive Director Evelyn Bumpers, who has been with the organization since its inception in June 2006, retired in January. When she left, no one was there to manage the organization, and the board hasn’t replaced her, claiming their financial insecurity didn’t allow them to hire someone, especially if the organization doesn’t survive.

Bumpers stayed on for a few months as a consultant, but when she decided to step down entirely there was no one to make sure the bills were paid. Now, several months later, employees have had insurance canceled for non-payment, and other vendors were months behind in payments.

“We knew these things needed to be done, but we didn’t know how to do it,” said Morrow. She went on to say that since then, “We’ve paid everyone,” and they are working to have insurance reinstated.

Currently NRoute operates direct transportation for the community. People can call NRoute to transport them to their local destination for a $2 fare. They claimed at the meeting to average 3000 trips a month.

NRoute’s Financial Challenges in Vicksburg

The most pressing issue facing NRoute is insurance on the busses. They currently have 22 buses and the insurance cost of those buses has been the greatest strain on their finances. The city had made recommendations to NRoute in February to reduce the number of busses and, subsequently, the cost of their insurance premiums. The city also recommended increasing the fare charged to riders.

Insurance and Operational Costs

Of the 22 busses the NRoute fleet, only five are used. Later in the meeting it was revealed some of those busses have not been used in years, but were still insured.

“There is no question the service is needed,” said Mayor Willis Thompson. However, he continued to question if the service was sustainable under its current operating model.

City Attorney Kim Nailor added, “These are taxpayer dollars.”

The comment led to a conversation about a bus service in Port Gibson taking over NRoute. Another meeting is being organized by Morrow with the Port Gibson group, representatives from the county and MDOT to see if NRoute can be saved.

The city will vote on the new budget at its meeting on Tuesday. That budget currently includes around $200,000 for NRoute. An amount that will leave Nroute $200,000 or so in the red for the upcoming fiscal year.