To the editor:

These numbers are from the city and the bus company. During scheduled hours of operation, there are 10 big buses on the street each hour with a capacity of 47 riders per bus. Each big bus uses 31 gallons of fuel per day at $3.89 per gallon. In August, there were 35,349 riders on the buses. You do the math: the number of riders in August divided by the number of days in the month, divided by the hours of operation. An average of 97 riders per hour were using the bus system. Riders paid a total of $16,949.50 in fares for August.

The number of riders in relation to the spaces available show that the buses are operating 80 percent empty. Looking at the fuel costs, buses operating 80 percent empty for 14 hours per day and the driver’s salary (which is $10-plus per hour), $1,953 is being wasted per day. You do the math: That’s $50,803 lost in the month of August. Even if the sales tax passes, over $50,000 will be lost each month for buses that operate 80 percent empty. That does not include the cost of new buses. There must be some major changes if the bus system is continued.

Scott Henderson,
Lawrence