On Tuesday, August 12, Sioux Falls City Council will vote on approving the Transit Task Force report presented at their informational session on July 8. The report has recommendations that include higher bus fares and “red-lining” Paratransit.
Action: Please ask city council NOT to approve the parts of the report that will make life harder for our low-income residents. In particular, ask them NOT to approve the 3/4 mile limit for people with disabilities or increases in the bus fares.
Background: A task force met for about 7 months to work mostly on reducing the share of the transportation budget that goes to Paratransit. I’m sure they came up with some helpful suggestions, but some recommendations will come down hard on low-income people, and pretty much no one else.
Federal rules require cities to serve people with disabilities within 3/4 mile of the fixed route buses. So far, Sioux Falls has served people with disabilities throughout the city. There is now an agreement to “grandfather” in the folks outside the 3/4 mile line. But woe to people there who become disabled in the future.
Bus fares for seniors, kids over age 5, people with disabilities, single rides, and Paratransit would increase 50%. A monthly pass would go from $25 to $30 (20%) now and then be stepped up to $40. (The day pass stays $3, but the day pass does not help everyone.) If you have encountered low-income people trying to cover basic needs on meager incomes, you know that any increase in bus fares will mean a cut from some other necessity.
Most people who don’t ride the bus don’t realize that Sioux Falls already raised single-ride fares when transfers were ended. Now if you need two buses to get somewhere, you pay twice.
If you look up the report, know that some of the participants DO NOT agree with all the recommendations.
I have asked several questions about the report, so feel free to call me to discuss or compare notes. For example, if Recommendation 3C is confusing to you, as it was to me, I have confirmed the following translation. The report says “Develop a paratransit system that parallels the Sioux Area Metro fixed-route system to ensure transportation services are equally provided to all citizens.” IT MEANS “Limit paratransit to 3/4 mile of the fixed-routes to ensure lack-of-service equally to all citizens, disabled or not, if they are outside the 3/4 mile limit.” Of course, in 5 or 6 years, expanded fixed routes will make more people eligible for Paratransit services.
Do bus riders even know there are proposed increases? Do they know city council is voting next week? I rode the bus on Saturday and did not notice any announcement about City Council voting on higher fares. They don’t know, so I am asking you to speak up for them.
*DL Note; I was astonished to hear that SAM doesn’t have bus transfers. It’s silly. When I visited San Francisco the last time, they do transfers for their entire system (in other words you can hop from a bus to a trolley to the subway, as long as it is within a 1-hour period of time. Also, the rumor is that Para-transit in Sioux Falls doesn’t use a dispatch system. In other words, they don’t maximize their mileage by going from pickups to dropoffs in the field like cab companies do. They return to their base after every drop off for their next assignment.