The city of Durango’s Buzz Bus program is an example of government reflecting community values through the services it offers. The bus, which runs Friday and Saturday nights, offers riders an affordable and safe way to get home. For $5, any number of potential hazards vanish — the most extreme of which include DUI or DWAI incidents or compromised personal safety. The city’s investment in the program is praiseworthy and just the sort of thing it ought to be doing with its transportation dollars. It keeps citizens safe and does so at a rate most can afford.
The program — as well as weekend Trolley service — is on the chopping block for the 2014 budget cycle and it should not be. City Manager Ron LeBlanc’s justification for the cut is that the city should not be subsidizing transportation out of its general fund and that parking meters are not generating enough to offset the increased ridership. While the balance sheet perspective is sound, the notion of reducing supply of services that are in increasing demand is not. Instead, the city should either increase fees or invest in the needed and useful transportation services it has built.
There are many a reason why: liveability, safety, accessibility, conservation, congestion, and economic development, to name a few.
http://www.naccho.org/advocacy/testimony/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=193952
http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/survey-investing-mass-transit-key
http://www.planetizen.com/node/64650
