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Public Protests Possibility of County Bus System Cuts
Legislators vow to preserve service
by Margaret Sternberg
Confronted by close to 100 angry and concerned Putnam County citizens who had turned out for a discussion on the County's Putnam Area Rapid Transit bus system ("PART,") Legislators at the April 8, 2008 meeting of the Legislature's Physical Services Committee worked quickly to address their concerns, which had been raised by one sentence in County Executive Bob Bondi's State of the County Address. Mr. Bondi had written that the administration was "assessing the possibility of eliminating the [PART] bus system."
Legislator Dan Birmingham opened the discussion saying, "I don't see PART ever going out of business. I see the Legislature funding it and continuing its existence, changing it perhaps, perhaps tweaking it, but it's not going to go away."
Committee Chairman Vinny Tamagna effectively defused the situation in his opening remarks by reassuring those present with what they had come to hear: "This isn't only about the transportation system, which is so important to so many people - many peoples' only way of getting from Point A to Point B, to get to work, to get to a doctor's appointment or to get to shopping…There is no way that we can disband the system." Noting that the demographics of the ridership are "probably the people who need it most," Tamagna called the system a "safety net" so that the riders "have the transportation that you need," also crediting the system as being integral to providing its users "with the socialization that you need, so that you can go out and get to the places you need to get to." Tamagna added that the system did not cost the County "all that much for the service it provides, and in fact it saves money," noting that with the cost of gas, the use of the bus should be encouraged. His remarks drew applause several times before he turned the discussion over to Commissioner of Planning, Development and Public Transportation John Lynch for a statistical analysis of ridership.
Lynch said that total ridership in 2007 was 164,495. In the first quarter of 2008, ridership was 37,469 as compared to the first quarter of 2007 when ridership was 33,752, an increase of about 11 percent, Lynch said. All routes, he noted, had an increase in ridership. Lynch said that local taxation funds 49 percent of the operation of the bus system.
Lynch said the County was in the first year of a five-year contract with First Transit, the provider, and that he expected the cost of the system to go down in 2008 by about $200,000 because the first year of the contract was at a rate of $2.32 per mile, a 2005 rate per mile that has since been rolled back. The remaining years of the contract are tied to the Consumer Price Index, and Lynch said the expected rise in costs would probably be 2-4 percent per year.
Legislator Terry Intrary volunteered that, as a legislator, he "would raise your taxes first and provide services that you need and deserve…The PART system and the bus system will stay put."
Legislator Sam Oliverio complained that the Legislature had known nothing about Mr. Bondi's idea, describing the bus system as "such a valuable and important system for residents and adding that government exists for the health and safety of its citizens and that if those things are taken away, then government should no longer exist either"
Joe Gomez, past chairman of the Coordinating Council for People with Disabilities, said that the bus service "gave me the right to go anywhere I please," explaining that for people with disabilities the ability to function independently was vital, and the bus system was critical in helping the disabled to function independently. Gomez said he is now a senior adding "I want my independence; I cherish my independence. I want to take care of myself." Gomez also pointed out that for those with minimum incomes, the bus system is indispensable.
Doris Pope, reflecting on almost having been placed in a nursing home, commented that PART Transit "was not just a mode of transportation. For many of us, just getting out to do the things we have to do helps us to get better." She said that "the intangibles" are things that must be looked at, and they may not be reflected in dollars and cents, adding that the real cost to the county is "enormous" in terms of social implications.
A petition started by TWU - local 227, the union representing the PART drivers, and containing hundreds of signatures from county residents supporting PART was presented to the legislature that evening.
Steven Unger, Chairman of the Putnam County Coordinating Council for People with Disabilities, said that there is no issue more critical to those with disabilities than transportation.
Chairman Tamagna ended the public contribution part of the discussion, saying that "Sometimes the human face gets forgotten…and you're bringing that back to life tonight."
Deputy County Executive John Tully thanked the Physical Services Committee for holding the session, but described the County Executive's State of the County Address as a presentation as to "where [Mr. Bondi feels] the County is in this particular economic time," emphasizing that last year the County Executive had presented the legislature with a 40 percent tax increase that "supported everything in the administrative budget last year." Tully noted that the budget had been decreased to an increase of about 23 percent, and "we are living within that adopted budget right now." Tully said that, given the economic constraints, the administration had promised to look at every single program within the county, adding that "this is not the last controversial program that this legislature and the county executive are going to be dealing with as we enter the 2009 budget process."
The May meeting of the Physical Services Committee will be posted on the PCN&R's website as soon as it becomes available.
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