A better plan for transit in Maricopa

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InMaricopa.com runs, on a regular basis, opinion pieces submitted by community members. The following article is the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of InMaricopa.com

On Aug.18 the city council was asked to vote on the approval of an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Transportation to receive funding for the operation of Maricopa’s current transit program, the MaricopaXpress.

As with every issue I must vote on, I had to measure the community needs vs. the costs of the program and make sure the agreement as presented to council was in the best interest of the citizens of our city. The information received from our city staff regarding the program did not paint a very advantageous financial picture for the transit program. In fact, the cost/benefit ratio was much higher than we should ever consider when establishing or continuing programs that are publicly funded.

Because of the significant cost versus the very low number of actual riders utilizing the service, I voted against the agreement along with three of my fellow council members, effectively ending the MaricopaXpress service. Since the vote, there have been erroneous statements and conflicting pieces of data regarding the actual numbers associated with the program. I asked for and was given an entire breakdown of the transit program since its inception and would like to report some of those numbers here.

All the following numbers are taken directly from the reports submitted to ADOT for the period January through July 2009:

The average daily ridership of the MAX is 48 persons
The city is projected to spend $210,000 in match funds or $4,378 per average rider
The cost per passenger trip is $20
The fare charged per passenger trip is $3
The total number of miles driven by our busses is approximately 111,000
The number of miles driven with passengers on the bus is approximately 47,000
The busses operate empty (deadhead) over 62,000 miles

The numbers alone are problematic to the program. While those in transit circles have found them to be acceptable, they are not the people who have to make financial decisions for our community. My objections to the program were based on these results and the belief that the program, as operated, was simply not a viable transportation method for our city to subsidize. I never once made any statement or comment that we should eliminate transit altogether, nor do I believe that transit, as a concept, should be removed from our strategic plan.

I appreciate all the calls and emails I have received regarding this decision and the support that the MAX program has. I know it is not easy to confront those you disagree with, and I applaud all who exercised their civic responsibility by engaging their elected officials. I wish more would do the same.

Following the meeting on the 18th, the mayor made a decision to ignore the direction the city council had mandated and place the item back on the Sept.15 council agenda for discussion and action. It is no secret that this council is not a consensus council, and I have voted against the majority of our council on occasion. I have not, however, ever asked for something to be placed back on an agenda because I didn’t like the way the vote went. While disheartening to see the lack of support from our mayor on a council decision, I was open to the discussion about options. I couldn’t see me changing my vote unless there was a better program to vote on.

I met with the city manager and asked him about the possibility of discussing with ADOT our options regarding transit and the ability of the city to alter the program so that we would be able to serve a greater number of residents. The problem was never the money we were spending, but the few people we were actually serving with the expense. If there were a way to improve our overall resident reach, the cost would be palatable, especially considering the federal grant monies we had available to us.

At the Sept. 8 council work session, council restated the desire to speak with ADOT regarding this issue and on Sept.11, I was able to meet with ADOT, along with council members Marvin Brown and Marquisha Griffin. The meeting was very good and gave all of us information that probably should have been shared prior to these discussions, but was beneficial nonetheless. The meeting included preliminary discussions about an altered program that would serve more residents, and how we could accomplish that.

ADOT representatives were very candid about our ability to maintain the grant monies if we chose to get out of the program we are currently taking part in. While compelling, I have made it a firm ideal to never allow the threat of removal from a program the reason for staying in something that is detrimental to the city, financially or otherwise. What I am open to are solutions. For me the solution was clear – serve more people with transit.

I am in contact with members of our senior population, our handicapped and disabled residents, our youth, and our low-income residents. They have all indicated to me that a localized, inner city transit program would benefit them and make their quality of life improve in Maricopa. When seeking solutions to the current transit problem, I tried to identify ways we could do that. While meeting with ADOT, it came out of the discussion that we may be able to use the current federal stimulus grant we received to purchase a cutaway bus that could start inner city transit within the city limits of Maricopa. Our grant monies already pay for administration of the programs, and so those costs are set. Our transit staff is excited about having other options and would work as diligently as they have to serve the residents with MAX.

A vision for transit in Maricopa already includes both the interconnectivity to the Valley, (although it must be modified to become more financially viable) and the introduction of an inner city route that could service our senior, disabled, handicapped, youth and low-income residents. This would also allow us to get people to the Park and Ride lot, where we could see an increase in MAX ridership because of the ease of accessibility. I also would love to see individual, modified routes that could take people once a week to the Chandler Regional Hospital area.

These were discussed at the meeting with ADOT, and I am hopeful that by Tuesday evening we will have a modified plan moving forward that will ultimately service a greater number of residents and secure Maricopa’s vision for transit within the framework of our strategic plan.

Page 2 of the information packet on the Federal 5311 grant program states that “Congress has found that significant public transportation improvements are necessary to achieve national goals for improved air quality, energy conservation, international competitiveness, and mobility for elderly individuals, individuals with disabilities and economically disadvantaged individuals in urban and rural areas of the United States.”

Our current program generally allows professionals and government workers access to motor coach service into the Phoenix Metro area. The modified plan Council members Brown, Griffin and I discussed with ADOT would start to achieve those goals stated by the grant itself and begin to enfranchise residents who are otherwise limited in their access to essential services such as shopping, basic health care, employment and connectivity with others in their community.

I am not against transit and never have been. I am against wasteful spending, and the MAX program as it is today is simply not providing a large enough cost/benefit to a large enough population to be justified in our current economy. I look forward to the discussion on Tuesday regarding transit and our ability to come together with a better plan to serve a greater number of residents and further enhance our quality of life in the great city of Maricopa.

Sincerely,
Carl Diedrich, Maricopa City Council member

Diedrich can be contacted by phone at either 520-568-3631 or 520-251-6671 or via email at [email protected].

Submitted photo

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