SCAT riders come to nearly every Greensboro City Council town hall meeting to complain about the current state of Greensboro’s paratransit service.
One of the complaints voiced is about the condition of the SCAT buses. But following action by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) on Wednesday, Nov. 13, it appears SCAT riders will have to wait another year before they get to ride on more new buses.
The Greensboro Department of Transportation staff asked the TAC to approve taking $587,000 set aside to buy new SCAT buses and use those funds to repair the roof at The Doug Galyon Depot, the multi-modal transportation center on Washington Street.
TAC member and City Councilmember Tammi Thurm asked if not buying new buses this year would cause problems for SCAT.
Greensboro Department of Transportation Planning Division Manager Tyler Meyer said that the 16 new vehicles purchased this year took care of the “most pressing needs” and he didn’t expect problems from deferring the purchase of more new SCAT buses until 2021.
Meyer said, “Water damage from the heavy rain in July shows The Depot roof replacement is critically needed.”
Transferring the funds from purchasing buses to roof repair sounds a little strange, but it was explained that the funds for both come from the same account, which will make that transfer less complicated and take less time than if the money was moved from a different account.
There didn’t seem to be any doubt that the roof repair was needed and needed to be done as quickly as possible to prevent further damage, but some SCAT riders are not satisfied with the current level of service and taking money already set aside for new SCAT buses to use for roof repair may not be a popular decision with SCAT riders.
