This is a proposed cut in state funding that hasn't been getting much attention. It's escaped mine, anyway. From a letter to the editor in the Indianpolis Star:
It is a dire time for mass transit supporters in Indiana. The Indiana House is toying with the idea of slashing the state budget for transit by nearly 20 percent. For IndyGo riders like me, this means longer wait times and decreased service reliability. For thousands of Hoosiers who depend on transit every day, this means further compromising systems statewide that already run on a comparatively paltry budget.
According to the website of the Indiana Citizens' Alliance for Transit, the proposed budget would cut the Public Mass Transit Fund to 2007 levels and permanently reduce them by cutting transit's share of the state sales tax. The result will be $7.35 million less for transit agencies in the state.
Dunno. I've had to rely on the bus a time or two, and my mother absolutely depended on it, so I appreciate the view that public transportation is an important amenity that can make the difference for some people in a community's quality of life. And cutting transit affects the most vulnerable among us. But whether or how much the state should contribute are separate questions.
Comments
Let city city bus riders pay for city buses. What a concept, huh?
Tim:
Sounds like the perfect job for:
CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!
;)
But cutting transit affects the most vulnerable among us, Leo said. Studies show that in some communities, without any tax subsidies, you are looking at a bus ride costing $7-8. You are poor and without a car and need the bus to get to work and be productive and improve your quality of life and then somone says, "Hey, instead of $1.50, how about $8." That person is making $9 an hour at a retail establishment; pray tell, Captain Obvious, how do you fix that. Kicking them to the curb isn't acceptable - or should I refer to Leo who said mass transit makes the difference for some people in a community's quality of life, so screw them if they can't pay shouldn't be an answer.
AJ
P.S. using that logic, only parents should pay for public schools; only people who read books should pay for public libraries; only people with cars should pay for snow plowing; only kids who play on a teeter totter (if their parents won't) should pay for public playgrounds; only people whose house burns down should pay for fire protection; only people who call 911 should pay for cops.
Love this pay as you go concept.
AJ
Here is a comment that I made on Coyote Blog a couple of years ago:
Talk has covered energy costs of public transportation, the not-so-full public transports and the government, always the government, operating these public systems.
I am here to tell you that none of the costs, none of the costs savings, and none of the environmental benefits of train, subway and bus transports make any difference. Everyone knows that taxpayer subsidy keeps those stinking buses and trains entangled in our daily commutes.
The extent to which governments dip into our pockets is clear in these operating summary statistics from Fort Wayne, Indiana