[Michelle]

Hi everyone,

The public meeting about cutting evening bus service is tonight at City Hall, Conference Room, at 6:00 p.m. The time of the meeting wasn't in the original News Dispatch story (I haven't seen today's paper to see if there's a story) and it's not on the city website. FYI for those interested in this issue.

[Michelle]

There was a wonderful letter from Sharon Carnes in the News Dispatch a couple of days ago:

MC shouldn’t drop bus service

Published: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 5:13 PM CDT
The demise of evening bus service in Michigan City is not the result of a lack of funds, but rather is a result of bad planning.

According to Mayor Oberlie, the three-year grant that funded the evening service, “did what we had hoped to do. We believe that people were able to get to work that weren’t able to before, so we had new job opportunities and shopping opportunities”

Too bad that in three years, none of our city officials figured out how to continue to fund the service.

The Mayor goes on to say “the extra buses only generated about $21,000, which is nowhere near the $300,000 needed to keep the buses running.”

I’m not aware of any public transit system that is expected to generate enough revenue to break even. Public transit is an essential city service, same as garbage collection, water and sewers.

Furthermore, the city has encouraged development outside the traditional north side business district and the population centers in town. In particular, the south side of Franklin Street saw rapid growth in service sector jobs, partly due to the southside TIF, but no plan for affordable transportation to these low wage jobs.

Mayor Oberlie acknowledged that taxi service was expensive, but said “there are options available to those without vehicles.” The only options I’m aware of are bicycling and walking. Bicycling on south Franklin street is treacherous in good weather, and downright dangerous at night or in bad weather. That leaves the option of walking.

However, no one even thought about the necessity of sidewalks on south Franklin. More bad planning.

Petitions were presented, and citizens testified to the need for evening bus service. The city should find the funds to extend the evening service for another year. During that time, one of our many city administrators should be charged with the task of figuring out a way to fund this service on an ongoing basis. Public transportation is an essential part of the solution to Michigan City’s economic challenges. The city bus service provides an affordable, and for many, a necessary alternative to driving.

Sharon Carnes

Michigan City