RTA Testimony to KCATA Board of Commissioners
Operations, Planning, and Development Committee
January 21, 2009
Good afternoon commissioners, administrators and colleagues. I am Margie Richcreek, chair of the Regional Transit Alliance, the only independent advocates for transit in Kansas City. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the thousands of Metro bus riders as you consider transit proposals to be funded by the highly anticipated economic stimulus legislation.
Twelve days ago our executive committee formed a working group to discuss possible uses of federal economic stimulus money. John Dobies convened that group, and he was joined by Mark McDowell, Ron McLinden and Kite Singleton.
We worked from the assumption that, while thousands of projects have been proposed for funding nationwide, they do not represent the universe of projects that will be eligible, and that different things can be done with the money.
We consider the following principles of prime importance as you make your final decisions about transit projects:
- Stimulus money should be used for capital projects rather than for operations such as adding bus trips.
- Stimulus money should add local jobs.
- Stimulus money should be used to do things that will directly benefit transit riders.
We request that you add projects to address three kinds of needs that we believe meet our criteria:
- Upgrade physical facilities at the 50 or 100 most heavily used bus stops. Such upgrades might include paved boarding pads; paved connections from bus stops to nearby sidewalks; lighting; and posting of improved transit route and schedule information (including the posting of such information at every shelter).
- Rebuild some of your older buses that have been retired or are due for retirement, thereby extending their service life. This might involve new or overhauled engines and transmissions, new or reconditioned wheelchair lifts, new seats, etc. Our rationale is that rebuilding older buses will extend their useful life, demonstrate the ATA's stewardship of existing resources, create local jobs, provide needed capacity while you await delivery of new buses, and give ATA maintenance staff an opportunity to demonstrate the fine work they are capable of doing.
- Make incremental upgrades to transit facilities in the MAX corridor. Some upgrades might include such things as ticket vending machines or other off-board fare collection mechanisms at major boarding locations, and posting additional transit route and schedule information, including information about service provided by Johnson County Transit.
We believe these kinds of projects can be implemented relatively quickly, add local jobs, and produce early results. As you decide how to use stimulus money, we of the Regional Transit Alliance urge you to consider how those expenditures will serve current and potential bus riders, and how they will be perceived by the public.
Margie Richcreek, Chair
Regional Transit Alliance
