The Greensboro City Council expressed full support of the proposed new contract to run the city’s bus system at the Thursday, Feb. 24 virtual work session.
The proposed contract with RATP Dev is on the agenda for the Tuesday, March 1 for approval by the City Council. There were no objections to approving the contract made at the work session.
The proposal from the Greensboro Department of Transportation (GDOT) is to award the five-year contract to operate the public transit services to RATP Dev at a cost of $122.6 million. The initial startup cost is listed as $1 million and the first year of the contract, the 2022-2023 fiscal year, is $22.1 million, which increases to $26.5 million in the 2026-2027 fiscal year, the final year of the contract.
The contract with Keolis for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2022, is for $20.4 million. The contract with RATP Dev also transfers 15 positions that are currently employees of Keolis to be employees of the City of Greensboro. During the discussion, GDOT Director Hanna Cockburn said these positions would see a wage increase at least to the $15 an hour minimum wage of the City of Greensboro.
Under the current contract Keolis could have requested a one year extension but declined. Keolis did, however, bid on the new contract.
It was noted several times during the work session that contract was not being awarded to the lowest bidder but on the basis of the “best value.”
According to Cockburn, all of the committee members who reviewed the bids rated RATP as the best value. In the overall rating, Keolis finished second.
During the work session discussion there were indications that the cost of public transit in Greensboro would continue to rise. City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba said the current system was based on 30-minute intervals and that was no longer acceptable in a city the size of Greensboro. Jaiyeoba said that the city also needed to look at cross town routes so that public transit passengers did not have to go to downtown Greensboro and wait for another bus to get cross town.
Jaiyeoba noted that he would also like for the city to consider trolleys between certain points in the city and that the city had to look at providing bus service outside the current service area such as to Piedmont Triad International Airport.
City Council Expresses Support For Proposed $122.6 Million Bus Contract
What is the annual cost per passenger? Anyone?
BINGO! You know they won’t tell us that. It would actually make sense. Have you ever seen a city bus here with more than 5 or maybe 6 people on it? That’s a busy one. You have to wonder at the logic of $1 million+ for an oversized electric golf cart that seats 60 or so and usually carries 4. Nevermind the depreciation, operating costs, drivers, insurance, etc. The whole system is flawed. It’s more about chasing a grant dollar, rolling advertising space or some liberal minded handout than providing a service. I still stand my ground with what I’ve said many times over. This should be a self sustaining enterprise with a balance sheet and fares should be charged accordingly, not the taxpayer allocation. Same for on demand trips such as the ol’ SCAT, whatever it’s called nowadays. From all appearances they still SCAT.
Agreed that this bus line should be a self-sustaining system.
If I remember correctly, in the 1940’s, Duke Power ran cable cars all over the greater city. A 10c token would pay for a ride to any of their destinations, including a transfer downtown. You could buy 3 tokens for 25c. And Duke made money on this service.
Allowing for inflation, that same 25c would cost about $4.50 today (that is for THREE rides, or $1.50/ride).
So where does the $122 million go? Energy costs are way up, but you can’t explain this cost away.
That is not true many of the routes carry about 30 to 50 passengers in one trip however with the exception of maybe 2 routes that do only have 5-10 passengers per trip. But if you rode the bus you would know that. And passenger do pay a fare not the government paying for them smh. Knowledge is power.
17,100.00 Per Day Average x 352 Days = 6,019,200.00 Riders Per Year
$122,000,000 / 6,019,200 = $20.27 +/- Per Rider
The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) is the operator of public transportation in the Greensboro, North Carolina area.
…
Greensboro Transit Authority.
Headquarters 300 W Washington Street in Greensboro, North Carolina
Routes 16/1 Connector
Stops 1056 (GTA), 46 (HEAT)
Fleet 45
Daily ridership 17,100
So assuming a person pays the full fare of $1.50, John Q. Taxpayer picks up the extra $18.77 per rider. We all know everyone isn’t paying the full single fare rate, so that means even more. What a sham. As Irving R. Levine used to say, “The Fleecing of America.” Please, someone explain to me how the hell this makes any sense at all to fund such a money pit. Wait for it… stinky tuna & chris will tell us all about it.
Just one quick note – the $122 million is for a five-year contract, so we we should really be considering the number of rides over a five-year period bringing the the cost per ride down to $4.06 per ride.
If anyone’s actually very interested in this, in the city’s annual financial report there’s fund level reporting including the revenues and expenses of the Greensboro Transit Advisory Commission (Schedule 65).
In FY21, total operating expenses for the GTA were $23.8 million (consistent with the new contract) and user fees and grants totaled $9.3 million in revenue leaving a $14.5 million operating shortfall. That shortfall is primarily paid for by our taxes and if there are roughly 290k people in Greensboro then the per capita tax hit for funding this program is roughly $50 per year or $4.20 per month.
Now, we can argue that $4.20 per month on average for each of us is too much taxation to fund the city’s transit program, but just thought it was interesting.
Per Capita? What the hell? Why should we pay anything if we don’t ride the bus? It’s not a charity event, every method of transportation comes at a cost. Even once a bicycle has depreciated there are costs for food and the physical energy expended to operate it. Same goes for the pedestrian express. Those who utilize the service should bear the costs should they wish to continue to use it. Those who don’t like it can call it reparations. Reparations for riding nearly free and the system operating a a deficit for all those years while John & Suzy Q Taxpayer worked two jobs to fund it.
Excellent stats! So my question to the GTA, why can’t the rider pay $4.0-4.25/ride? The people using this service should pay for it. Anyone who can figure mileage costs for their car knows that $4.00 to ride around town is a bargain.
I big cities, riding the bus is common practice for everyone. It is MUCH cheaper than driving your car in any city.
When I was last in SF, you could ride the bus, cable car, or electric rail car all over the city for one fee. You could buy weekly, monthly, or annual passes. I noticed the drivers never asked me for a fare. So people just rode around for free – at taxpayer expense. So that is the real reason for cheap rides – a “free” benefit from Big Brother.
Most of these riders ride the bus to get to a job that serves you smh. Lord I know $4.50 a month from tax payer including myself is gonna cause you to miss one night out at Flemings or Ruth Chris.smh I hope none of you ever need to use public transportation.