Citilink Examining Options
“In response to loss of an anticipated $500,000 in local property tax revenue and higher than anticipated fuel expenses to date, Citilink is exploring revenue enhancement and cost containment options. A fare increase of $0.25 per one way passenger trip and other adjustments in the fare structure may be proposed - the first in 17 years. Service reductions may include, but are not limited to; elimination of Route 5, reducing Route 7 to hourly service on Saturday, reducing Route 1, 2 & 3 to hourly service weekdays and restricting the service area for Citilink ACCESS trips to within ¾ mile of the fixed route service. Citilink is requesting comments on proposed service changes.
The Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corporation/Citilink will host the following community information sessions:
Monday, June 2, 6:45-8:30am & 3:45-5:30pm Citilink Superior Street Transfer Facility
Tuesday, June 3, 4:30 - 6:30pm, Fort Wayne Urban League, 2135 S. Hanna Street
Wednesday, June 4, 10:30-Noon, Citilink Administrative Offices, 801 Leesburg Road
Thursday, June 19, 4:30-5:30, Public Hearing, Citilink Administrative Offices, 801 Leesburg Road
In addition to these sessions the public is invited to attend Citilink Board Meetings on May 29th and June 19th at 5:30pm, Citilink Administrative Offices, 801 Leesburg Road.
It is anticipated that service and fare changes will be made July 1, 2008.
Input and suggestions on these issues of immediate concern are invited at the meetings or can be addressed to Betsy Kachmar, Assistant General Manager, 432-4977, bek@fwcitilink.com by June 19, 2008. Comments on other issues are also welcome at the meetings or at any time.”
Wow! What an opportunity you folks have. A chance to step outside of the close-minded Fort Wayne mold. Rather than “cutting routes”, why not look for routes that make sense? I sat on a State panel 2 years ago that examined job and educational forecasts in NE Indiana. One of the blaring issues was the lack of public transportation between IPFW, St. Francis University, Taylor University, and the hospitals. All three hospitals utilize a great number of students from those schools. With the high gas prices, students will be less apt to attend these schools if they have to pay tuition and par to have a car available.
Another route change may be to “expand” service. Yes, I know that is thinking a little outside the box, however. How about a 2 or 3 times a day route from Jefferson Pointe to Columbia City to Churubusco to Glenbrook to Jefferson Pointe? Or the reverse order. Jefferson Pointe to Decatur to Ossian to Glenbrook to Jefferson Pointe as well. There are tons of kids, seniors, and folks who’d rather not drive who would gladly ride your buses if they were on time, and clean. Cutting services is the first step in going out of business!
Jim -
A huge paradigm change needs to happen for people that want to ride the bus. Its not the fact the service is not being provided, it is that if you use Public Transportation, there is a little inconvenience involved. The bus does not operate around people schedule. People start using the bus once the sting at the pump is greater than the pain of having to plan a little bit head of when you are leaving your house.
Jim, I invite you to go to IPFW and watch the students drive their cars from the dorms over to the school buildings.
Also, I am just curious if you have ever taken a ride on the bus to verify your claims of tardiness and dirtiness.
Well Anonymous (cop out), Yes, I have ridden the bus, waited when NO bus ever showed up, etc. The paradigm shift appears to be needed at Citilink, where narrow-mindedness is apparently alive and well. If you folks didn’t want suggestions, why solicit them? Is there another way of getting the kids from the dorm rooms to the school buildings? I rode city buses for more than 12 years in Chicago, and they were on time, on route, and pretty darn reliable. You don’t see any other cities pulling in their horns with public transportation, only Fort Wayne. Citilink will probably have a bus route from the Coliseum parking lot to the Harrison Square ballpark, make sure you charge twenty bucks or so for that ride.
Jim Macino,
The facts don’t support your comment, “You don’t see any other cities pulling in their horns with public transportation, only Fort Wayne.”
Indiana University’s heavily-used Campus Bus Service in Bloomington is combining routes, rescheduling to shorten end-of-run dwell times, and eliminating idling during layovers of more than three minutes. That’s still not enough to offset fuel cost increases. They’re eliminating several driver positions and implementing significant service reductions.
Chicago Transit Authority has had a running battle to chase the wolf away from the door, and although it looks like they’re OK for now, the legislatively-dictated short-cycle funding policies for public transportation make it a recurring crisis. Here’s a poster from last fall:
http://www.robertpence.com/20071008_chgo/20071010-162.jpg
Pittsburgh, a city midwesterners could look to for an example of high-quality, convenient mass transit, is facing the prospect of significant service reductions just as ridership sets new records and former solo drivers recognize the value of the bus or light rail line they can access by walking a couple of blocks.
Major Ohio cities, some facing strangulation with auto congestion, are challenged to find ways to keep their buses on the street and respond to increasing demand.
Those are only a few examples of the emergency faced by transit systems across the country. Until local, state and federal officials and legislators recognize the long-term value of investment in and operational viability of public transportation, our transit systems will suffer from short-term funding policies.
The Chicago poster is interesting …At least 23 of the 39 route changes were “extra” or Express type routes, meaning that the service, although altered is still available.
“Indiana University’s heavily-used Campus Bus (at least they have one) Service”
“Pittsburgh, a city midwesterners could look to for an example of high-quality, convenient mass transit” probably didn’t build bus stops wihout a route to pick anyone up.
Certainly there are many examples both pro and con, I’ll stand by my thought that “Cutting services is the first step in going out of business”.
Jim, I don’t disagree with your last point. Cutting service almost always reduces revenue more than it reduces costs; it’s stepping onto a slippery slope.
Public transportation has come to its present sorry state as a result of short-sighted public policy and land-use patterns that at first accomodated automobile use and ultimately have made it mandatory, severely limiting economic opportunity for anyone who doesn’t drive. The funding crisis faced by many transit systems is not a stand-alone problem; it’s one manifestation of a culture that has emphasized self-indulgence and acquisition over social and environmental awareness and responsibility. Only a few people now grasp the scope and magnitude of the changes that we’re going to have to get used to.
I won’t start a dissertation on what has gone wrong and the consequences and remedies. It’s enough to fill several books, and they’ve been written already by people a lot smarter than I am.