HOW WE SEE IT: ORT Cuts A Response To Public Will

Rather than embracing a future flush with cash from a newly implemented sales tax in Washington County, Ozark Regional Transit is paring services.

It’s no wonder. The coffers to run Ozark Regional Transit’s area buses and shuttles had $220,900 less in 2012 than in 2011.

Leaders of the regional bus system had hoped the 2013 story would be much, much different.

Had the May tax election gone the other way, they would be preparing to spend about $7.5 million annually - rather than below a quarter as much - in Washington County thanks to a new quarter cent sales tax. But the tax crashed 64 percent to 36 percent. Benton County leaders declined to put the measure on the ballot, and they apparently had a pretty good sense of the public’s will.

The board of directors and new management at the bus system are now working to figure out the future, and it looks limited.

Ozark Regional’s board recently agreed to management’s proposal to end Saturday door-to-door, by-appointment service for those without cars or who cannot drive. The Saturday demand was significantly less than it is on weekdays.

The bus system also runs the more traditional fixed-route buses Monday through Friday. They offer a limited means to get around, especially if one is trying to travel any distance.

The board is scrutinizing the cost of the professional management firm that has operated ORT for years. The annual contract costs Ozark Regional $464,000 a year.

This, apparently, is the system local residents are willing to pay for so far.

The two counties have far more geography to cover than the public commitment for transit can support. The system we have performs an important function, but it reaches such a small segment of the traveling public it is not viewed as a vital public utility.

It is treated by many as a sort of charitable outreach, not an essential transportation option.

This board is taking financially responsible action to meet the realities of Northwest Arkansas’ car culture. After daydreaming about the dedicated sales tax, they seem to recognize the system’s limits in the current political and economic environment.

The dedicated sales tax voters did pass came in November, and its priority for the region is more concrete and asphalt to give cars and trucks more real estate on which to travel. Other than expanded roads for buses to travel on, the measure offered nothing for the expansion of public transit.

Here’s the rub: The need for a mass transit option in Benton and Washington counties will not diminish in the years ahead. The need will grow, especially if the region has another population spurt.

For now, however, Ozark Regional Transit is like a bus stuck on the side of the road with a fl at tire: It’s not really going anywhere. One might argue it’s moving backward, but certainly there’s no one who can suggest it’s moving forward.

Perhaps one day there will be a broader recognition that mass transit can solve or significantly reduce congestion problems, but the political leadership knows local residents don’t, by and large, care about that yet. And nobody’s willing to lead the public of Northwest Arkansas to that point. Local leaders will wait until the public demands more. Until then, it’s hard to imagine many local elected officials waking up each morning thinking “I’ve got to make progress on mass transit.”

So here we all sit, still waiting on the bus.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/05/2013

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