By: Diane Benjamin
So close to $1 million lost: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umwJzzqlOYT6z4QeSHLzRz4FKZi3Z8Oi/view
Ridership has started to recover, it isn’t back:
A few expenses paid:
Connect still hasn’t found a new Executive Director. They do keep meeting in secret however.
PDF page 25: Insurance coverage is going to cost $614,226 for FY 2022. That is a 16.5% increase.
PDF page 27: ISU will pay $289,068 for service from July 1st to December 31st.
PDF page 28: Heartland will pay $48,000 for the same time period. They estimate 400 unique riders at $20 a month.
PDF page 30: Union employees will receive a 3% wage increase. Two full time custodians will receive a 5.8% increase (equity)
PDF page 35: Free rides end June 1st.
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I’d like to know how many tons of air Connect Transit has transported around our cities over the years.
Do we do buses because we’ve always done buses?
MP is retired, living on a fat taxpayer-funded pension, residing out of state, and is getting a high-paying full-time salary funded by taxpayers to run a failed public transit program that bleeds money, provides a poor quality of service, wastes funds (e.g., larger than needed buses, solar projects), meets in secret, and is continuously funded without any accountability to its customers or taxpayers. Did I miss anything?
He was only in Arizona for a month or two
Acknowledged. Maybe he can stimulate the local economy.
I believe Peterson has a Hudson address and lives on Lake Bloomington.
Much cheaper there than in Normal with all the taxes and fees he applauded
CT has no accountability. The board is not elected. They are appointed by the mayor’s to do whatever the mayor wants. Both council’s have failed to to use the built in checks and balances and and demand CT change their course. Our politicians keep shoveling our money at this problem instead of actually trying to fix it.
But you are getting a downtown transfer station, electric buses, and solar panels! A large majority will never use their service, just get the bills.
The funding for the “green infrastructure” comes from federal grants applied for by the CT staff. (Yes, still taxpayer dollars) Local tax dollars are used to “leverage” state funding from downstate transit operating program. The Council can only influence CT within the perimeters of the Intergovernmental Agreement with Normal.
Council appoint the board members, how about a couple who see reality? Huge empty buses are responsible use of our money?
Blind leading the blind.
What a joke – They could get by with mini-vans!
…except for ISU stops when classes are in session (and the weather isn’t nice?). And there Might be other rare exceptions where they’re full. But those are the Exceptions, so yes, they should have gotten smaller vehicles, or a mixed fleet of mostly smaller vehicles. And we’ll see how well electrics hold up under extreme cold and how good the battery life & replacement costs are. A lot of places have not had good experience, but our illustrious leaders have decided we’d make good guinea pigs to see if the technology has improved enough…
Just watched the movie Greyhound. The people who run this country, our state and our city need to see what it takes to persevere in difficulty. What kind of people got us here and what they had to do to keep us safe. They would be ashamed of themselves, the corners they cut, their lazy leadership and the way they take for granted our great country and its people.
Buck Up!