By: Diane Benjamin
Connect Transit October report, much more is available in the packet:
Deficit: $1,189,796
Fixed Route Ridership was down 3.23% over September
Mobility Ridership was up 2.88% over September
PDF page 32-33
PDF page 36-37
PDF page 45:
LMAO… non-violent offenders are welcome to apply now… That will certainly raise the quality of the workforce. Who wants to play Grand Theft Bus?
The real good news is that a person can leave jail immediately starting January 1 and go directly to connect and apply for a job!
I have a great idea, Let’s spend MILLIONS on new buses but have no drivers. Taking a page right out of the Bloomington playbook…Build a firestation and not be able to staff it(did everyone forget?)
Build a water tower that is unusable. Build a coliseum that sits empty.
Buy a building nobody wants, spend $25 million to rehab it, than host shows that lose money.
I’m sure the list of examples is endless.
They’re having problems finding applicants for their new Ambassdor program? I’m sure that has Nothing to do with the fact that the preceding Advisory panel was actively co-opted to become a rubber-stamp for what the board wanted to do, rather than allow for meaningful input from those Advisors regarding the topics they cared about.
Best course of action would be to shut down the system.
Nobody rides it.
Nobody wants to drive them.
Administrative staff pay and benefits outrageous for the job.
Shut it down.
The most fiscally responsible thing would be to kill it outright, but that needs to be balanced with the social responsibility to those few that depend on it. Whether than means streamlining it, rethinking it as something like Uber passes, or simply phasing it out, I’m not sure.
But any thoughts or plans in that direction are putting the cart before the horse. No meaningful change in a positive direction will happen until we start electing public servants instead of politicians. Better representation in Bloomington’s council and better people in all the elected positions the ‘Town’ of Normal is required by law to have – Town Council Trustees, Town Clerk, Town Supervisor, and Town Collector.