By: Diane Benjamin
Events all over Bloomington-Normal are cancelled because of the Wuhan Corona Virus. The BCPA cancelled shows through August 12th. Taxpayers are likely cheering that one, months of no money losing shows! Are the employees going to be laid off until then?
WEEK compiled a Bloomington list: https://week.com/2020/03/12/bloomington-shuts-down-bcpa-calls-off-arena-events-due-to-covid-19/
Connect Transit still transports people in a closed environment and then releases them to spread whatever they picked up on a bus. People can’t attend an outdoor parade for St. Patrick’s Day, but they can be exposed to a soup of germs on a bus?
Are the drivers wiping down the seats and hand rails after every ride? Are the drivers wearing masks to protect themselves? Would anybody ride the bus if the driver was wearing a mask?
How are older riders protected?
We know the virus is worse for seniors, should they be on a bus?
If Connect Transit didn’t have oversized buses cleaning them would be easier. Maybe riders should be restricted to specific areas so the drivers know where to clean instead of guessing which seat a rider used. Maybe the drivers should hand out Clorox wipes to every passenger.
Shouldn’t riders over 60 be banned for their protection? Is Connect Transit really doing everything they can to protect their customers? Should buses be a classified as a public hazard?
Since the ISU kids aren’t coming back right now, smaller buses could easily handle ridership. Maybe Connect should start calling Uber instead of contributing to spreading disease. Maybe Connect should reconsider a transfer station in downtown Bloomington. Will packing people together ever be a “best practice” again?
Never fear! Normal’s Mayor is on it:
Coming from the guy that ilegally limits public comment and rips off the many citizens that venture into abNormal. Nothing Koos can say is soothing or reassuring. Lol, what a jerk!
All I know is I’m stocking up on 30/6 rounds today so when those Wuhan Corona Virus Zombies enter my neighborhood, I can greet them with head shots.
On the serious side: This is a media driven hysteria (because they think it will hurt Trump) that is insane.
Lets look at the swine flu that killed thousands in the United States in 2009: From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus. See for yourself here: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/2009-h1n1-pandemic.html
Who remembers this as being a big deal at the time? Does anyone remember anything being canceled or idiots buying pickup loads of toilet paper? And who was president in 2009? And what was his national response?
Now Transit Disconnect would have to actually have riders before there would be any danger from the Wuhan Corona Virus spreading inside the buses. So our vigorous transportation of air around Bloomington/Normal should continue uninterrupted and if some zombies are created by this virus they should immediately join the spineless zombies on our city councils.
Who really cares what Koos koos says? He’s no more than a Wanna be Dictator.
What Mayor Koos leaves out is that current town policy is very Pro-pandemic. Their support of CT along with their demand for multi-story, multi-use buildings regardless of market demand is based on their vision of ‘compact’ urban planning.
When your goal is to force as many people as possible into elevators and buses to get to/from home and work and wherever else, you’re also drastically increasing transmission of airborne diseases like Covid.
Koos and company haven’t implemented their plans far enough that they deserve blame for anything in the current outbreak, but the future isn’t written yet. It’s no coincidence that so many similar diseases originate with China, the kings of ‘compact, centrally-dictated urban planning’.
It’s a perfect excuse to explain declining ridership, poor customer service, and the overall dumpster fire that is CT. Wonder how long they’ll milk this one.
That’s enough to make a person sleep with ONE EYE OPEN!
Koos on top of the SITUATION, now that’s some FUNNY stuff… Maybe if a NEO (near earth object) is about to hit the planet, he’ll ride a bike up there and BLAST it to oblivion too!
I expect Connect’s ridership to be down because of the virus scare. They will still run regardless of use. Unfortunately, the cost of the running the buses remains the same. So we are paying for a service that is going to be used even less or not at all. (Paying cab or Uber fare would cost so much less for the 2 riders I ever see anyway.)
Koos and Co are blinded by shear stupidity of the situation yet the buy huge busses that can’t even get to where they are needed. Every time I see an empty CT bus I am reminded it is just another government failure Koos and Co refuse to acknowledge or attempt to fix.
The next election cannot come soon enough.
Connect’s newer buses are equipped with dark windows. Was that so people can’t see the buses are empty?
Connect Transit should change their name to the Corona Connection
There will be a covaid-20. This will be repeated.
For public safety Connect should close down and use the savings to pay for people’s uber and Lyft. At least those can;
– be wiped down after each ride
– cost taxpayers less
– are small enough to get where people need transit
– limit the spread of the next super-virus
ISU can maintain their own on-campus bus.