Read BikeWalkLee's April 10th blog post, and BikeWalkLee's April 8th letter to BoCC members.
April 8, 2014
Dear Commissioners:
Over the past year, BikeWalkLee has
repeatedly expressed its concerns about cuts to LeeTran’s services. We were
pleased to hear Commissioner Hamman's suggestion at the April 1st BoCC meeting
that the Board consider restoring the LeeTran service cuts. We support that
approach and ask that you instruct staff to restore the $500,000 in cuts in
your baseline continuation before the draft 2014-15 continuation budget is
presented.
While we would prefer that the cuts be restored
as soon as possible, it appears that the consensus of the Board is not to
reverse any budget cuts during the year. However, the Board should take action
now to ensure that these core services are included in the baseline of
LeeTran's budget for next year.
As you know, as part of last year’s
budget process, the Board cut LeeTran evening and weekend services effectively
in half, extending intervals between buses to as long as two hours. These
service cutbacks were intended to save $500,000 in LeeTran’s budget; however,
the county lost an equal amount of matching grant funds and is now losing
ridership and fare revenues. As a result the “savings” are actually costing the
county money.
At the time these cuts were made, the Board clearly stated its intent to closely monitor the impact of these cuts. We now have evidence of the negative impact these cuts are having on the transit system overall and on individual lives of our citizens who rely on transit to get to work and lead independent and productive lives. Since the cutbacks went into effect in mid-November, ridership numbers have fallen for the first time in years. This was after several years of record-breaking increases in ridership. In the January 2013 to January 2014, year to year comparison ridership was down 8.5% and February’s year to year comparison showed a ridership decrease of 2.2%.
These service cutbacks are representative of
the real impacts of service cuts. The system has become a less reliable means
of travel to work or other essential destinations. Two hour intervals between
buses are simply not a viable mode of transportation. Research shows that the
functional viability of any transit system hinges on two primary qualities: 1)
punctuality or reliability; and 2) the waiting time between buses (or
headways). The enormous headway extensions after 6 p.m. and on Saturdays caused
by the LeeTran service cutbacks have weakened the entire transit
system. The longer these service cutbacks are in place, the more
damage is being done to the long-term viability of our transit system.
Rather than subject yourselves to another
bruising battle with citizens over this small but enormously harmful budget
cut, we urge you to take this controversy off the table now. You can do this by
restoring these services in the baseline of the continuation budget for next
year.
Thank you for considering our views and your
continued support for important Lee County services.
Sincerely,
Dr. Margaret Banyan
on behalf of BikeWalkLee
For more information, see BikeWalkLee's recent blog post, which
contains previous letters and posts related to transit:
BikeWalkLee Blog: Tuesday, March 18, 2014
News-Press 4/22/14 article: "A fare to remember: Airport to beach--by bus: $1.75"
Article includes March ridership stats for 3 bus routes, documenting reductions, with quote from LeeTran acknowledging that ridership slide was probably due to the budget cuts.
Article includes March ridership stats for 3 bus routes, documenting reductions, with quote from LeeTran acknowledging that ridership slide was probably due to the budget cuts.
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