Hi Sustainable Tompkins Folks! There's been some interesting discussion lately about mass transit choices being made right now in the City of Ithaca that I thought I'd pass along in hopes of finding some creative solutions to the possibility of reduced TCAT service in Ithaca and surrounding areas.
As background, the West Hill Civic Association (which is mostly a neighborhood discussion group that covers City of Ithaca issues, but also includes the Town) has a pretty active listserve. Lately, there's been lots of discussion and frustration because the main route serving West Hill (Route 14) has been reduced from every half hour to every hour. TCAT folks have been really responsive and apologetic about the lack of communication before the change, but there hasn't been any action to increase the route frequency. In effect, the new reduced service on West Hill means that there are west hillers who now have to keep a second car for commuting. In other words, people are having to make choices about their personal transportation, and at the moment, mass transit is not the winner. I thought the attached message from TCAT, especially the comments about the likelihood of future service cuts to other routes, would be of interest to the Sustainable Tompkins folks, too. Perhaps together, we can come up with some creative, practical solutions to support mass transit in Tompkins County in the near future. - Ben Heavner ------------Forwarded Message------------ ________________________________________________________________________ 1. TCAT Posted by: "Jennifer Dotson" [EMAIL PROTECTED] jedotson14850 Date: Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:03 pm ((PDT)) Thanks for all the comments about TCAT. I talked to Jonathan Ablard and Erik Shanton at the WHCA meeting on Tuesday night & told Jonathan I would post my thoughts on the issue here. Sorry it's long. It's not an easy or simple situation & my editing skills are low tonight. I agree that it's a problem that TCAT reduced frequency of service to West Hill on the #14 bus, and also that this was not publicized effectively ahead of time, leaving people waiting for buses that never came. However, like I said to Jonathan & Erik, the solution is not at all clear. TCAT's situation is complicated right now. I'd like to explain to you some of the issues I see here. But first, if you want to share your thoughts with TCAT, here are a few ways to do that: (1) call TCAT directly (277-7433) or use the comment form on the www.tcatbus.com website. TCAT staff logs these comments and reports on them regularly to other staff and board members. (2) contact the staff who are the primary planners for the route changes that occur three times a year (August/September, January, May): Nancy Oltz ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), Nicole Tedesco ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), and General Manager Joe Turcotte ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). (3) contact TCAT board members. Here's the list, corrected to add me as the ninth member. You have three with particular interest in West Hill, Hank, Pam, and myself. If you prefer phone, numbers are available on the County, City, and Cornell websites for all of us. (Kathy Luz Herrera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dan Cogan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Henrik Dullea <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Pam Mackesey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rich McDaniel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Frank Proto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bill Wendt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Joel Zumoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jennifer Dotson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) (4) Pam, Bill Wendt, and I also serve on the Transit Services committee of the board, meetings of which happen on fourth Tuesdays at 2:30 pm, in October on 10/28, at the TCAT offices. (The staff I mentioned earlier are also integral contributors at these meetings.) You are welcome to attend one of these meetings, though 2:30 pm is not the most convenient time for most people. You are also welcome to attend and speak at regular TCAT board meetings, held on fourth Thursdays at 4 pm (this month on 10/23, this week). (5) TCAT also has an Citizens' Advisory Committee. I don't know what the current membership/vacancy situation is. If you're interested in this committee, contact Joe Turcotte and he will direct you. Right now, TCAT is in a difficult financial situation. Fuel price increases mean probably a $350,000 increase in expenses this year that is NOT matched by income. Meanwhile, development patterns are changing (great example in the Town on West Hill) which mean pressure is increasing on TCAT to provide incremental increases in service. The way this new development has played out means that many (particularly City and TCAT reps) are seeking new sources of TCAT funding that might match the new patterns of service demand. Meanwhile, TCAT is in the middle of a Transit Development Plan process that is intended as an overall look at routes & service with the intent of suggesting feasible changes that will mean more efficient, easier-to-understand transit service. This will likely lead to a route re-jiggering that is bigger than the current 3x/year route changes that TCAT normally does. Even though fuel prices have taken a little dip recently, I think it's really unlikely that TCAT will get through the next 12-24 months without having to make some really difficult and yucky choices. If we can make it through without any route or frequency cuts, I will be VERY surprised. (This coming from someone who would rather be figuring out how to have free or nearly free bus service, especially since our fares represent about 8-9% of TCAT's budget. A challenge here is that our state assistance is based on miles and *paying* riders.) Also meanwhile, for some time Pam Mackesey and Dan Cogan have been strategizing ways to approach other municipalities and/or institutions for funding, knowing that TCAT needed this kind of effort, and in recognition of a mismatch between service demands and funding patterns. A couple months ago, I joined them, expanding the informal "committee" focused on this issue. A rough breakout of TCAT 2008 budgeted revenue of about $11 million was 32% in NYS operating assistance, 21% from Cornell in bulk fares, about 7% each from the City, the County, and Cornell in general support, 13% in Federal operating assistance, 9% in regular fares and passes, and the rest (3-4%) from other sources & activities (including Gadabout). Ithaca College's volume discount fares are about 0.4%. 2009 breakout is similar. No other municipalities or local institutions contribute in any significant way. City, County, and Cornell general support amounts are, by agreement, equal, and were each about $750,000 in 2008. So given that the need for transit is spreading out along with developed area in the county, Pam, Dan & I (along with others on the TCAT board and others) are investigating other sources. It's great news that Herb Engman included $50,000 for TCAT in his proposed Town of Ithaca budget. It may not be the level that really matches the transit need from the Town, but it's much better than zero. I really hope that this remains in their final 2009 budget. Also, we are strategizing approaches to other entities whose students, staff, or patrons use TCAT. Despite all these budget uncertainties, during June, the TCAT board moved unanimously to cut fares on off-peak trips (10 am-3 pm and after 6 pm M-F, all day weekends) to 50c from $1.50. The projections showed that this would probably cost us about $30,000, but we did it because we wanted to increase ridership. As it was, ridership increases have been above projections and this program has cost TCAT less than anticipated, and gotten more people on the bus, as intended. I consider it a successful marketing expense, definitely. So when the #14 bus started taking longer than 30 minutes to complete its route, TCAT staff (mainly Nancy Oltz, who generally does these things) reorganized the schedule during certain times of day to allow 40 minutes for the route, so it wouldn't be late at least some of the day. Then, as the Conifer Village demand stop (i.e. "only on demand") got enough demand to become a regular stop, the route took longer on a more regular basis. During this last route change (September), Nancy presented the Transit Services Cte. with a plan to change the route to once/hour. The committee took this (and several other route changes) to the full board. I was out of town for the meeting where this was voted on, but I didn't hear of any suggestions for other steps to address the #14 issue that the board felt were feasible. (I did plead the case before the meeting to my fellow board members about riders relying on the #14, the impact of Town development on the route, and therefore on service to the City with this change.) Board members did express concern about communicating to riders about these changes, particularly the #14 and #13 and also changes to rural routes. Staff laid out a plan for communicating with riders weeks ahead of time, and I even got a report a week or two before the change that staff had been out at rural bus stops talking with riders about the upcoming changes. It didn't occur to me that the #14 riders would be missed, so I was shocked to hear at the WHCA meeting about the lack of communication. I've contacted TCAT staff about it, and will pass on the response. So I'd love to hear more from you. I'm really sorry that West Hill bus service is being affected in the way it is, and more sorry that there seems to be a lack of communication about changes. If there are changes on West Hill in the future, I will contact WHCA directly. Thanks for listening. I hope this helps explain more of the situation. I welcome further conversation or insights, and am also happy to help answer other questions (as I'm able). Jennifer _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
