By: Diane Benjamin
Documentation for yesterday’s meeting: https://www.connect-transit.com/file/1782/09%2026%202023_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf
Since June was their year-end, reporting was delayed.
The TOTAL OPERATING DEFICIT for last fiscal year was:
$15,360,045
June loss: PDF page 8
July loss: PDF page 14
August loss: PDF page 20
June TOTAL income: $112,061
July TOTAL income: $93,493
August TOTAL income: $153,627
The moral of this story is two-fold: 1) This is unsustainable 2) The elected officials funding this fleece aren’t doing it for any other reason than ideology.
Their ideology is obviously faulty when federal tax dollars get washed through the state and then get handed out locally as subsidies and grants. Local residents are forced to subsidize transportation most never use while the heavy buses wreck the streets those same people have to pay to repair.
This is the comedy show the people who bothered to vote must want.
A closer look at the number of riders on FIXED Route buses.
June was reported previously here: https://www.connect-transit.com/file/1641/07%2025%202023_BoT%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf
The total ridership numbers aren’t accurate because anyone who changes buses is counted twice. Look at this another way:
Using these numbers, less than 16 people per hour were on all the buses. (133,264/8353) PDF page 2 shows 32 buses were used meaning half were empty for an hour.
16 people per hour were on all the buses – 28 buses were running. Half of all buses were empty for an hour.
15 people per hour were on all the buses – 34 buses were running. More than half were empty for an hour.
(Sustainability only applies to what you are allowed to do – not government)
This note is on PDF page 42:
As we continue to look at pre-pandemic ridership (our system highs), we have recovered 83% of fixed route ridership. While we still have ground to make up, Brookings, in their post-pandemic transit recovery report, notes that bus-based transit has recovered on average up to 74.4% of pre-pandemic levels, so we are also recovering at a more rapid rate than peer systems nationwide.
There is a TON of other information in the packet. Evidently no one is ever going to question why this fleece is allowed to continue. It is likely a setup for the future when vehicles are too expensive to own. That is also a sustainability plan cooked up by government.
Figure out yet government is NOT working for you? I wonder why they had to spend a lot on bus parts for new/newer electric buses?
Thanks Diane! 👍
Some other fun facts about this hot mess we call mass transit.
For Aug 2023, the total operating expenses = $18,946,747
The Transit System total ridership = 202,511
(By the way, the Total service miles = 178,299 so average ride length is 1.13 miles?)
Therefore – $18,946,747 in expenses divided by 202,511 rides = $93.56/ride or $82.80/mile.
What could someone who doesn’t live inside the Mass Transit box figure out to do if they were told – we’ll give you a budget of $50 per ride or $40 per mile to come up with a new system to move people around in Bloomington/Normal?
At $50 per ride we would be saving $43/ride = $8,708,000 PER MONTH or $104,495,676 PER YEAR of taxpayer money.
Is this not enough to find some smart person that lives outside the mass transit box to come up with better options?
GOOD NIGHT! maybe buy people their own personal drone to fly them a mile to their next stop or hire a crew of 200 pollution free rickshaw drivers. I will gladly take that job at $40 per mile.
Thanks for doing the math on this… I had this idea a couple years ago and it never caught on at the time…. I proposed that we just buy some stretch limos (and hire drivers) to chauffeur folks around in them? Think of the national publicity we would get? And we would have homeless people and drug addicts from around the nation flocking to Bloomington-Normal for our limo service! Its a win win for everyone. Who doesn’t want to see homeless camps all over town with stretch limos picking up disadvantaged folks? I know that it would make me proud….
Perfect testbed for Rivian, right in their own backyard. Anthonomus driven public transportation, a virtual goldmine!
It’s called Mess Transit
LOVE ALL the above comments. They’re humorous BUT they also “hit the nail on its head”!!
@MARC – LOL!!!
Ditch all of those over-sized outdated style of busses and give folks a “card” for transportation and they use it for Uber/Lyft/whoever offers the rides …and the rider goes directly from point A to point B in small to medium sized vehicles. The solution is so simple!