ypsi~dixit

Response from me:

Dear Mr. LaRue:
People spoke passionately at the March 21 meeting not because "the
debate has been artificially whipped up," but because they depend on
the bus service to get to work, child care, and medical services.

Like [original etter-writer], I appreciate the tough spot's the Council is in. I said so
during my talk time at the March 21 meeting. But I think some budget
line items can be re-prioritized. For example, funding for special
events and recreation and the city lobbyist seems more expendable than
funding for a service 800 Ypsilantians depend on every day in order to
secure their livelihoods. I don't particularly care if an Ypsilanti
park doesn't get its grass cut for a few weeks. I do care if my
neighbors can't get to work.

I respectfully urge you to join me and the community members working
with me to seek ways to preserve bus service. Let's work together to
solve this problem and ensure this service so vital to the future
economic health of an already struggling city.

Yours truly,
Laura Bien
"Keep Ypsi Rolling" director

Barry's response:

Laura:
I will work to help and hope that you will expend some effort to
convince employers and public entities such as UM and EMU to expand
their existing support of AATA.  I know I have and will continue to do
so.

It will take moving up other line items in Ed's plan. The overall cost
of grass cutting in the parks isn't going to save enough to fund the
bus routes. Besides, if the economic health of the community declines
due to "quality of life" declining, then that will only exacerbate the
budget problems putting more pressure on line items like the bus
contract.

Basically, a lot of things in the budget are symbiotic.  I don't know
how to explain it other than that.
Anyhow, it's late, I'm tired, and I promise to work toward preserving
as much or all of the bus service as I possibly can.   I really do.

Truce.

Barry

My response:

Dear Mr. LaRue:

Truce. I want to work with you and other Council members to solve this
bus crisis, and I have a plan that shifts funding from the Ypsi budget
to a fare increase and, in the longer term, millage. It will take a
lot of hard work in the long term to raise the millage, and I'm
committed to that. The "Keep Ypsi Rolling" team seeks not to
antagonize Council or raise the dust to no end, but to contribute a
workable solution that you and other Council members can adopt to the
benefit of Ypsi neighbors who depend on the bus. We want to help solve
the problem with a practical, workable plan, one which not everyone
will like, and one which isn't perfect, but one which will ensure that
Ypsilantians can continue to go to work, school child care, and the
hospital.

Thanks for continuing the conversation. Working together, we can solve this.

a follow-up note:

p.s. one small unexplored option is to get WCC to kick in their share.
They used to fund AATA, but no longer do. I ride the #3, and see lots
of folks taking it to WCC from downtown Ypsi. It's a lifeline for many
Ypsilantians going to school there. WCC should reactivate thier
subsidy, in all fairness, and pay, as does EMU (for the shuttle) and
U-M.

Response from Mr. LaRue:

I teach part time at WCC and could explore the opportunity to lobby the
bus cause with the administration.  Good idea.

From where should WCC get this new subsidy? State aid continues to decline, while the college's costs rise. Higher tuition? Maybe fewer classes? In Chicago, students get a transit card good for a semester, but much of the cost is built into everyone's student fee, whether they use the CTA or not. Is that the way to go here? I'd bet people would howl, given how most probably drive to WCC now. I'd be willing to bet WCC dropped its subsidy because it either needed to cut costs, or found that few students were using the service....or both.

mj64: your point is well taken. However, state aid declining and costs rising is true for every other local school. And it's true most drive to the giant-parking-lot-ringed WCC.

I'm not so sure it's the case that few students are using the bus to get to WCC. When I take the #3 (I alternate with taking the #4, depending on the scenery I feel like), at least half of the 20 or so a.m. riders debus at WCC. It seems to me to be an important link for many Ypsilantians to get to WCC. But I don't have any hard numbers to offer you; I should pursue some if we want to go further in asking WCC to renew its onetime subsidy.

Just to be clear (and fair to WCC), I believe EMU doesn't really support AATA but simply contracts with them to run a shuttle from EMU's main campus to it's College of Business, several blocks away. EMU doesn't offer any support for the main lines that bring students to campus. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) And doesn't UM essentially just pay so their employees can ride for free?

As much as I want to see this the AATA funding problem solved, why should EMU/WCC pay extra for service that delivers students (customers) to their door anymore than area businesses do? How is asking EMU/WCC to fund the bus system different than asking Briarwood or Kroger to fund it?

EMU/WCC may be major stops, but are they any more so than St. Joe's and shopping centers?

I am pretty sure that EMU pays a subsidy that covers the route that serves it. I think in both cases (EMU and UM) that paying for AATA fares to encourage people not to drive is less expensive and easier than finding/buying land for a new parking lot and building one. UM funds passes for all of its employees because most AATA lines are reasonably close to the university, and workers or students can park just about any park/ride lot in town and grab a bus, or take a bus from their neighborhood.

Couple of thoughts...

Does anyone know if U of M actually *pays*, or does AATA simply use the U of M ridership numbers to bolster their reporting, so as to get increased Federal funding? I'm asking because I really don't know. I noted that if there is a farebox increase, U of M riders will be exempt. Why is that? Next: Didn't I hear that Community Colleges were likely to get funding increases this year? An increase in State aid. I don't have time at the moment to look into it, but will try to do it over the next day or two.

Brian, the budget laura posted a few days ago said that u of m puts in $700,000, while emu puts in $96,000 (which is only for their free shuttle).

As for Ol' E Cross's comment above, emu and wcc are major land holders, don't pay taxes, and emu especially tends to take more from its host city than it gives back. And, Mj64's question of where would the money come from? Try selling the emu presidential mcmansion, for a start.