By: Diane Benjamin
What sane people lose $961,115.06 in one month and think they deserve more money?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z9J6Y41RLRkSNO-5bQwiJgGr6lSYnpGp/view
PDF page 8:
Connect Transit!
On the Special Meeting agenda for Bloomington Monday:
http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15936
Starting on PDF page 17
Ends on page 35 – just something Farnsworth threw together for Connect Transit:
The medium brown spot is the transfer station – complete with restrooms. Everything else is fluff.
We need to start calling Connect what it is – Taxpayer Theft!
Connect evidently has no limit to the losses they gladly produce. Now they will demand more of your money to provide jobs to government employees and build a fancy transfer station. Prevailing Wage will provide jobs to unions, in turn they buy politicians.
Ridership has been down for 4 of the last 7 months. No worries – another sign of mental illness!
The cost of transporting people is way higher than customers pay. Your money is being stolen so a few people and students can ride cheap.
Hey Bike Blono – how many people would be biking if taxpayers weren’t fleeced for bus service? They are stealing your base. No wonder nobody uses the bike lanes!
The City of Bloomington sent the County a check for Mental Health: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15938
This money was also stolen from you by the increased Sales Tax.
How do we get the Connect Transit Board the treatment they need?
Is it time the taxpayers get a return on their investment?
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Will say it again and again: Because Leftist absolutely HATE the Liberty and personal independence that private vehicles afford, they will always, ALWAYS support so called “Public Transportation”, even if it absolutely bankrupts the taxpayer and serves nobody. It is part of their Marxist, freedom hating, government dominating DNA.
The good news is that nearly everyone that has a choice elects to drive their own car or pool with a friend or two. By the way, when was the last time our aristocratic mayors or city/town council took Connect Transit to their work office or town/city hall? Right. Thought so.
That would when they needed a photo op
Well said Maggie!
(Dis)Connect Transit is a colossal failure. However, the clueless and old crusty members of the Chamber, EDC, and BN Advantage continue to trumpet the service as an asset to the community and workforce. Very few people of influence in the community question the obvious taxpayer abuse and illogical spending of nearly $1 million per month to shuttle around a relative handful of people and students. With a declining population in BN and a large decline in undergrad enrollment at ISU, the losses will get larger and larger. Connect Transit has no incentive to rein in expenses and better manage its finances and service offerings if it just gets a blank check from government. It’s time to cut our losses and shut it down. If we must, subsidize Uber or Lyft for those in need.
The Board members of CT are incapable of management. Look no further than the Board President. This group spent nearly $50K for a “design plan” with no site in mind, no budget for the project and no funding proposal.
Taken to a “rough” number that’s approximately $100 a year for EVERY citizen in Bloomington/Normal. NOT counting students. Just a rough number, AND a thought!
What and WHO will these money sucking democrats tax WHEN everyone has left or is out of a job.
I have to wonder how WGLT will push this agenda item since Mr. McCrurdy is so concerned about the “political repercussions”.
Transit is a poor, wasteful form of transportation. Transit ridership is declining or stagnant at best. What a reckless waste of taxpayer money! Target spending where it best serves the taxpayer, not for the sake of ideology.
Agreed! Ideology is why we have Green Top Grocery, Connect Transit, bike paths, a million dollar Downtown government agency, the Collesium/arena, BCPA, Route 66 museums, and a potential soccer complex and aquatics center. None of these ever made any economic sense…never! All were driven by big government, government knows best ideology. At the end of the day, the market doesn’t care about ideology, feelings, or nostalgia. The market has exposed or will expose all of these as colossal failures.
170,826 riders subsidized 961,115 taxpayer dollars last month. Raise ticket prices 5 or 6 bucks to cover the true cost. They are using that reasoning with garbage.
They use that logic to raise taxes on EVERYTHING – brilliant point.
And somebody who drives for Uber during the day, I’d like to know where they’re getting their ridership numbers. The only time I ever seen more than one or two people on a bus is by the University. And that’s picking up kids from Cardinal Court or the tri Towers to take them by campus.
McCurdy works for WGLT (Sound Ideas), is on the Connect Transit Board, and Bike BloNo. See how this all works?
This is just asinine. If they want to be subsidized, how about the issue cards for those in need to use Uber? How about they get rid of the buses and use smaller van-type vehicles? If they complain that ISU students use it, fine. ISU can buy 4-5 of the buses and run ISU routes. We can afford that.