Costly T

To the editor:

Oh the glorious T. What great strides it is making. In four years, it has managed to entice 1,061 riders per day. It’s logical to assume that if a rider takes the T to one destination, that rider will have to take it back to where he or she came from. That means that the ridership numbers equate to approximately 530 people per day.

If one looks at the numbers as listed in Tuesday’s Journal-World, this is no bargain. With the taxpayer having to fork over $1.7 million this year to keep the T solvent, approximately $4,660 per day, the taxpayer gets to subsidize each person to the tune of about $9 per day. That’s a bargain for the person making a round trip on the T, but not for the taxpayer. Would anyone ride the T for the actual cost of that round trip? Or would they be better served to use one of the commercial transportation services in town that pay taxes? How do these services survive without taxpayer subsidies?

Some folks did not get to pay more for their homes this January, due to last year’s valuation increases, and won’t feel the projected increase to support the T; but then, they don’t own the property they live in. With the city poised to raise property taxes to finance 95 percent of the T’s operating expenses and the very real prospect of increased fuel costs, maintenance costs, personnel costs and equipment replacement, the T is not a boon nor a “good value” for taxpayers. Like Eagle Bend, it is a millstone around their necks.

Ken Meyer,

Lawrence