By: Diane Benjamin
A while back Diana Hauman told me the city she visited in Arkansas to see their sports complex doesn’t have bus service. The city pays non-profits to give rides, even religious organizations. Maybe they can afford a sports complex because they have more brains than the local leaders!
March Connect Transit:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LT_orEvHzWxPnw_LZw5tzvv9Y4kxyxDN/view
Take note:
More than half of Revenue goes to Administration Salaries!
Total loss for March was almost $900,000.
All those losses are covered by your tax dollars.
Even though Connect had almost $7,000,000 at the end of March, they didn’t pay back the Capital Account:.
Remember how they claimed to have $6 million saved for a transfer station? https://blnnews.com/2018/04/16/connect-transit-fuzzy-math/
If they have it it’s hidden somewhere!
It looks like the only way to get more riders are more subsidies:
Finally:
A whooping 20 per hour ride. If these twenty have to take two buses, it’s really only 10 people:
How long is this moronic endeavor going to be tolerated?
.
.
.
.
Just think, with a transfer station in Downtown Bloomington, the City could go even deeper into debt. Connect Transit benefits those that get cushy jobs with no performance expectations (clearly, see financials above) and friends of big government.
Connect Transit is MAYBE a NEEDED unit here, but ONLY if SMALLER busses and BETTER routes are implemented. WHAT they have now is TOTALLY unsustainable!
And as for “management” PURGE that and we’ll save even more and have a BETTER transit system..
Of course we need a bus service. We also need a bus service that not only runs efficiently but a bus service that SERVES! Cutting routes to those people who need it most(poor, disabled & elderly) is NOT efficient!
Total Local BloNo Subsidies
2014: $ 928,820
2015: $ 986,934
2016: $1,205,110
2017: $2,165,624
2018: ???
Connect Transit is classified as part of INFRASTRUCTURE. So, keep that in mind when someone mentions the 1% Sales tax increase–the 0.25% is earmarked for streets and infrastructure, Wonder why Mr. Karch is not allocated the $2.4M that is supposedly generated from the increase? A portion, decided by Council, is being diverted.
How long is this moronic endeavor going to last you ask? As long as there is a moron willing to give away tax dollars to support Disconnect Transit!
Watched a bus over by SF HQ this morning. One person got on; she was the only passenger. Figure out the cost to operate a bus even for 15 minutes with one passenger. Connect Transit can do whatever they want to inflate their numbers but imagine what could get done if expenses were trimmed there, starting with rarely-used routes and the car cash provided to the Director.