By: Diane Benjamin
Question that will never be answered: The main Connect Transit office used to be downtown before they built new offices on the far west side. Why do they need a transfer station downtown now when they abandoned downtown? Poor planning?
From the Board Packets: https://www.connect-transit.com/about/trustees/packet.asp
Why was there a huge drop in Passenger Fares in September? We don’t know because this “data driven” organization didn’t include the usual data in the packet for the October 22nd meeting! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YuC2aXtKG7e4yMXB4TMhE0LIo1pFBund/view
The only good news is when Connect has fewer riders they loss less money, in August they lost $940,744.26.
The annual audited financial reports are included in the packet. This gem shows what happened locally with jobs in the last 9 years:
State Farm doesn’t have 15,000 employees. Tari Renner lies when he says staff has been cut. District 87 went on a hiring spree while Unit 5 cut jobs.
Has the local media reported the Attorney General is investigating Connect Transit for ADA non-compliance? https://blnnews.com/2019/10/18/ag-investigates-connect-transit-ada/
A guess for Unit 5 is much larger class sizes, while D87’s expansion may be related to the number of full-time classroom aides assigned to specific students.
Each of the top three employers in the community reduced headcount. That’s a surprise to no one except the so-called leaders of this community. By the way, I’m not buying 14,200 State Farm employees in BN. No way. Even if it is 14,200, the jobs coming in or growing are lower-skill, lower-paying jobs compared to those relocating to other hubs. Regarding fare revenue, Aug 2018 compared to Sep 2019 (roughly year-over-year), it dropped more than 20%. It seems like the perfect time to buy more large busses and build a transfer station.
In mentioning State Farm employment numbers should also be noted that Indian contractors hired and then terminated are not counted as lost employees as they are not directly employees since they are contracted. Wonder what that number would be.