Shame on City Council for charging $1 per trolley ride.

This will negatively affect many people, especially financially. The trolley is an important means of transportation for those to get to work or to shop and purchase groceries. These are residents making minimum wage, on a fixed income or people choosing to ride the trolley in order to not have to drive and park downtown, which takes up valuable parking spaces.

So what’s in a measly dollar a ride? If you go from home to work, let’s say, that’s $2 a day multiplied by five days a week is $10 times a month of travel could equal $40 to $50. Shocking isn’t it?

For some, that is not in their living budget per month, and a reduced pass is not a reasonable option, as it adds hassles for those who just need a simple ride someplace. What happened to raising the metered parking to cover the trolley fares imposed in 2014? What about the new taxes coming from recreational marijuana sales to cover trolley fares?

There are other options City Council could have considered, like reducing the run schedule of the trolley, especially during winter to save on funds and resources, asking for more input form the community on how to keep the trolley free or perhaps getting sponsors for the trolleys, get paid advertisers to run ads on the monitors on the trolleys or create a better marketing strategy to encourage donations instead of making people pay. And what if a person got on board with a larger bill than $1, is the driver now to make change and keep cash on hand?

Ridiculous and careless planning on the council’s part, and I am asking City Council to repeal this dollar charge for riders. And I ask everyone in Durango to also write and complain to demand this dollar charge for a trolley ride be repealed. There are other ways the trolley could be funded, and City Council needs to revisit other options for a viable solution to keep the trolley free!

Jim Dodson

Durango