Editorials
County needs a better public transportation plan
Hernando Today
Published: January 21, 2011
The issue: THE Bus.Published: January 21, 2011
Our opinion: This waste of tax dollars need to be remedied.
Taxpayers last year funded THE Bus at the tune of more than $15 per ride.
To travel from Weeki Wachee on the corner of U.S. 19 and State Road 50, it takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Mariner Plaza - a six-minute ride for most motorists.
This can't continue.
It's ridiculous that taxpayers fork over $15 for each ride and that ride is nothing short of miserable or useless to most folks who can't afford private transportation.
You could take a taxicab from the same spot and it would cost between $8 and $10.
The county spent about $350,000 of taxpayers' money last year to fund THE Bus. The state and federal government chipped in about $1.1 million, bringing the total to $1.45 million.
Nearly 70,000 rides were recorded on THE Bus during the time period. Simple math shows what a waste of money THE Bus is.
What makes this government waste even more difficult to fathom is that the service is awful at best, torturous at worst. The folks who can't afford personal transportation are forced to partake in a public transportation service that's maddening and wretched to use.
Imagine having to walk to a bus stop blocks from your home and wait for a bus that won't arrive to your destination for 1 hour and 45 minutes even though that destination is only a few miles away. Too far and too dangerous to walk so your only choice is THE Bus.
On top of that, you get to pay $1.25 for the adventure.
The system is broken. It's too expensive, and it serves so few with such poor service that it's used by only those who simply have no other choice.
Try to take it away, and those passengers who depend on the service will tell you they can't live without it.
So what's a county commissioner to do?
THE Bus is a huge waste of tax dollars. It serves less than 1 percent of Hernando County's population. If the county doesn't have a public mass transit system, it will lose the $1.1 million in state and federal funding. Several thousand Hernando Countians will be left with no means of transportation. Because of the limited service times and areas covered by THE BUS, many county residents already are without a public transportation option.
Commissioners need to come up with a better plan. Surely there's a public transportation system somewhere that serves the public's needs without ripping off the taxpayers to fund it and making those miserable who depend on it.