From: "Friends of Transit NEWS" To: "Friends of Transit NEWS" Subject: Friends of Transit News - January 2, 2002 Date: Thursday, January 03, 2002 10:52 PM Hello everyone, I wanted to share with you a copy of a Letter to Editor from one of our friends, Scott Hume. Many of you know Mr. Hume and/or have read his work in the various local newspapers. Once again, he is right on point. Thank you, Scott. I am also attaching pasted below Scott's letter an article that appeared in the Arizona Republic yesterday in case you did not see it. It seems the Transit Naysayers are once again trying to discredit the merits of transit. We recently sent you a newsrelease about the issues in Tempe that Scott writes about. I particularly want to draw your attention to the point that the City of Tempe Transit Office will be hosting two public meetings to get input from citizens about proposed bus service reductions. City of Tempe Transit Public Hearings Saturday, January 26th 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Tempe Public Library - Program Room 3500 S. Rural Road Tuesday, January 29th 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. City Council Chambers - Garden Level 31 E. Fifth Street Unfortunately, this is a venue where the Transit Opponents will probably surface, and once again spread their misinformation about transit. It is VERY important that a contingent of the "Friends of Transit" show up to counter their negative comments. If you want to arm yourself against the false arguments that the transit opponents spout across the nation, you may want to get a copy of the "Twelve Anti-Transit Myths" by going to the American Public Transportaion Association's (APTA) website at www.apta.org. These meetings also give you an opportunity to express your opinions about proposed service reductions. If you need more information, please call Tempe in Motion at 480-350-2739. Thank you, David Schwartz Executive Director david@friendsoftransit.org http://www.friendsoftransit.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I read Heather Urquides' article ("Tempe may ax bus routes to help pay for light rail") with interest and a bit of confusion. Having been a mass transit activist in the Phoenix area for some time, I find the need to clarify two major points of the article. Light rail cost is not motivating bus route decreases. Instead, buses and the light rail project evolve hand-in-hand as part of the Valley's mass transit program. While it is unfortunate that the discontinuation of Tempe's Warner route #124 may have negative impact, no doubt the move financially had to be made. And as for the stoppage of the WEEKEND "Flash Lite," passengers put off from this FREE service can easily be accommodated by other PAID routes. No doubt, these decisions were not easy for transit planners, such as Tempe's Mary O'Connor and the related city officials to make. However, the only other alternative would seem to be further tax increases, which thankfully was not a final option. As for the light rail suspension bridge to cross the Tempe Town Lake, I'm confident that with the public process scrutiny motivated by the Arizona Republic, the Tempe City Council may rethink the design of this element. Perhaps the "least expensive alternative [to the bridge that] was $1 million less" could be used instead, with the funding diverted to re-opening a scaled-back version of the Warner bus route. Bus and rail must work together cooperatively before these transit modes can work for us. Scott Hume 12618 N. 34th Place Phoenix, Arizona 85032 602/817-6961 Free-lance writer, web site designer, independent community activist and volunteer, plus a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. http://www.angelfire.com/az/schume or http://www.scottssupersite.url4life.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tempe may ax bus routes to help pay for light rail By Heather Urquides The Arizona Republic Jan. 02, 2002 As Tempe's plans for light rail roll ahead, other transit services are quietly taking a hit. The city plans to cut bus and shuttle routes, including the Mill Avenue free shuttle, reduce runs on a half-dozen other routes and defer several improvement projects. Some cuts, such as eliminating the Warner Road route, were identified specifically to help pay for light rail out of the city's transit tax coffers. Other cuts are being made to compensate for the recession's effect on those same coffers, expected to fall about $3.3 million below projections this fiscal year. Public hearings on the proposed cuts are set Jan. 26 and 29. Cory Tracy, 24, who boarded the Warner bus last week to get to a construction job, says the cuts will hurt. "The more lines the better," said Tracy, a Mesa resident who relies on the bus or his bicycle to get everywhere. "I don't even know how to drive." Meanwhile, earlier this month the City Council chose the most expensive design concept for a light-rail bridge that will span Tempe Town Lake. At $14.5 million, the suspension-type bridge is being touted as a signature structure for the city. The least expensive alternative was $1 million less. "Every dollar we spend on light rail is coming out of our bus program," said Councilman and mayoral candidate Hugh Hallman, who said he would have preferred a cheaper bridge design concept. "It was after all our bus program that voters approved. I'm concerned we not undermine its effectiveness and usefulness." Since the transit tax was passed by voters in 1996, Tempe's mass transit use has increased 225 percent. In 1996, total ridership was 1.2 million compared with this year's 3.9 million through October. The tax was passed to pay for transit improvements and the city later earmarked some of the funds to pay for light rail. Expected to be partially federally funded, light rail will cover nearly six miles in Tempe at a cost of $45 million per mile. The rail line is planned to originate in downtown Phoenix and run to Sky Harbor International Airport, then eastward to Tempe and Mesa. Glendale voters have approved a transit tax they hope will help extend the line to the West Valley. In Tempe, in addition to the Warner Road route elimination, the city also plans to cut the free Mill Avenue shuttle and delay a planned Rio Salado Parkway route. They also want to halt construction of new bus pullouts and stops and delay planned additions to neighborhood shuttles. The Warner Road cut will likely have the most impact on residents, said Mary O'Connor, the city's deputy public works manager. The route has the city's lowest ridership numbers, with 31,116 so far this year, she said. The city's busiest, along Broadway Road, had almost 500,000 for that same time period. But those numbers don't matter to Maria Merida, who rides the Warner Road route daily. "It's the only way for me to go to work," said Merida, 20, who rides the bus from her home near University and Hardy drives to the school where she works at Warner and McClintock roads. The City Council will vote on the proposals after the public hearings. O'Connor said the riders displaced by the Warner cut could go a mile north to the Elliot Road bus or to the nearest route on the north-south streets. She also said the cuts and deferred projects could be reinstated next year if there is more money in the budget. Reach the reporter at heather.urquides@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7981.