Local opinion: Bus fares need to be reinstituted

and analysis of the writer:

On April 8, a friend and I attended the City Council meeting. We had heard the Council was going to be considering reinstituting bus fares and that there was going to be a large crowd at the meeting to protest their doing that. Since my friend and I were in favor of reinstituting fares, we decided to attend to voice our opinions.

Bus rides were made free during the COVID shutdown, and the City received COVID monies to support the bus system. Now that the shutdown is over, the City is no longer receiving these monies, and the City is supporting the free-fare bus system with millions of dollars of our taxpayer money. With the City complaining that it is facing a budget shortfall, it seems like a no-brainer to reinstate the dollar-or-so bus fare.

Besides the budget considerations, there are other reasons I support the bus fares. Before the era of the free fare, my son used to ride the bus to work. He tells me that he and other young people no longer ride the bus because it has become dangerous, with episodes of violence almost daily. Summer before last, my husband and I were in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida. The residents there were telling us that St. Pete’s had traditionally been a low-crime area, but that when bus fares were eliminated, the crime escalated dramatically. Burglars were taking the bus into their neighborhood, robbing the residences and stores, and taking the bus back. The residents called upon their leadership to reinstitute bus fares (which they did), and almost overnight, the crime dropped dramatically to pre-COVID levels. The bus fares were low, around a dollar, and it is hard to imagine that crime would fall off the way it did, but it did. It seems that free fares were enabling crime.

At the City Council meeting, the Mayor was handed a very large stack of “Request to Speak” forms, all of which indicated whether the speaker was in favor of, or opposed to, reinstituting bus fares. The Mayor announced that the “Call to the Public” would be limited to 30 minutes, and that each speaker could have 3 minutes. She then proceeded to call only on speakers who were opposed to the bus fares. These speakers claimed that reinstituting bus fares would result in “death” and “climate destruction.” There were a couple of speakers who proposed increasing the City budget for public transportation and suggested that the money be taken from the police department.

There were three bus drivers in the audience who had turned in “Request to Speak” forms, and the Mayor did call on them. All three of them supported reinstituting bus fares. The drivers claimed that the buses have become dirty, smelly, and dangerous. Fighting and violence is commonplace. One said that he no longer bused students to classes, or workers to work, or shoppers to shops, but instead was busing riders back and forth between homeless camps and drug dealers.

The City Council needs to reinstitute bus fares for the good of their constituents. The fact that free fares have gone on this long, and the Council is still “studying” this issue, is an example of the failed leadership that continues to plague our city.