Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:11:29 -0400
From: Tom West
Subject: Chatham to spend $10,000/month to bus 20 people a day to Chapel Hill
According to an article in the Herald Sun at http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1181295.cfm the so called “The Chatham County Express” bus service from Pittsboro to Chapel Hill is due to start this Friday, August 17.
Bill Terry, the Pittsboro town manager say that “The main driver is the university’s hospital”
After asking for ridership projections for weeks we finally find out in the article that the new bus service is estimated to deliver 10,200 rides a year on a regular size 40-passenger bus.
The bus will make three trips each way for a total of six daily. Hours of operation will be 6 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
Now how much is this terrific service doing to cost us all?
The article points out that the new bus route won’t be inexpensive. It’s expected to cost $352,712 to operate over the next 18 months.
Chatham County and Pittsboro will cover half — $176,356 — of the cost ,and the other half is being funded by a $176,356 federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) grant.
That works out to about $10,000 a month, of which Chatham County will pay $8,000. Pittsboro will kick in the other $2,000 each month.
As Bill Terry says in the article, “That’s a lot of money!”
Do you think the Pittsboro and Chatham County politicians made a wise choice with our taxpayer dollars?
There is already a discussion going on about this topic at the Chatham bulletin board at http://chatham-county-nc.com/bulletinboard/index.php/topic,14120.0.html
Let’s take a look at the cost/benefit analysis done on the numbers by Gene Galin. Here they are –
52 weeks x 5 work days per week = 260 work days – dozen national holidays = 248 work days
10,200 rides a year / 248 work days = 41.1 riders a day
41 riders per day / 6 bus runs per day = 7 riders per bus load
$352,712 cost / 18 months = $19,595.11 per month x 12 months = $235,141.33 per year
$235,141.33 per year / 10,200 rides = $23.05 cost per ride
Planned fare per ride – $3
$23.05 cost per ride – $3 fare per ride = $20.05 tax subsidy per ride
7 riders per bus load x 3 mpg = 21 passenger miles per gallon of fuel on the bus
Note to Gene: Riders can land up paying even less than $3 a ride if they buy the $65 monthly pass. No mention on whether you can “share” your pass with other people in your household, your business or your commune.
Another poster wanted to know “Why didn’t these numbers come up before the bus service was approved by our elected officials? It looks like we’ll be giving everyone who rides the bus a $20 bill everytime they get on the bus!”
The Chatham GOP Chairman points outs that we were under the impression that Chatham County allocated $40,000 of the 2009-10 annual budget to the bus. The article says that Chatham will pay $8,000 per month. That’s 96,000! Is the extra $56,000 this year coming from the grant? If not, where is it coming from?
Does this make economic sense to y’all?
Some people have jokingly referred to this bus as the “magic” bus. Well, this Magic Bus is no joke as we watch it make our taxpayer dollars disappear!
The Chatham politicians told us we could not afford to hold onto school teachers, but apparently the county can spend $10,000 a month to bus 20 people back and forth to Chapel Hill every work day!
Thank goodness the town and county elections are coming up! We can perform some of our own magic and make the politicians who made this bad decision disappear as well!