We like the direction Ozark Regional Transit is headed.
The regional bus system has started 2014 with changes to routes and meetings with riders to get feedback. They've introduced a new smartphone app that shows riders where their bus is on the route and the estimated time it will arrive at any of the main stops. The system is making changes putting it on the road to a better future rather than approaching its final stop.
What’s The Point?
New funding for Ozark Regional Transit is an investment in the future, and transit officials are making great strides in making the bus system more useful and accessible.
The last couple of years have been active, but disappointing, for regional transit as its supporters sought to make huge advances in transforming the region's bus system.
Back in early 2012, the system launched an aggressive effort to create a large pool of money for a serious transit system. The proposal was grand: If both counties had gone along, the system's annual funding would have amounted to about $15 million. At the time, Ozark Regional Transit's annual budget amounted to $2.8 million.
Benton County provided no support, rejecting the request to even call an election. Washington County tried. In the end, the pursuit of a dedicated funding source for a regional bus system was more than the public was willing to support. Washington County's voters rejected by a 64-36 percent margin a quarter-cent sales tax that would have provided $7.5 million annually for transit. It was an aggressive play, but keeping regional transit as it was simply wasn't an option.
The Northwest Arkansas Council, a private group advancing business interests in the region, stood firmly against the Washington County tax. The council wanted to let the voters first decide on a proposed statewide tax to fund transportation projects, including local money for roads and, if local governments so chose, transit. That tax passed, and the council and Ozark Regional went to work asking city councils and quorum courts for funding amounting to 20 percent of their shares of the statewide program. Even if everyone followed through on the request, it was a fraction of the more grandiose plans voters rejected. But Ozark Regional Transit supporters knew they couldn't just give up. Baby steps toward a system for the future is better than letting it whither.
Those baby steps matter if one believes, as we do, that Northwest Arkansas will continue to grow in population and opportunity. A region of such size will need a transit system more in the future than it has so far. The lack of a reasonable transit system will limit what Northwest Arkansas can achieve.
Although Benton County has stuck with a measly $15,000 annually, Springdale grew from $160,000 a year to $248,646; Fayetteville from $296,000 to $300,000 (well beyond its 20 percent already): Bentonville from $123,000 to $125,757; Rogers from $123,000 to $199,367; and Washington County from $23,500 to $122,970.
Leaders in these governments deserve kudos for improving the region's investment in transit, and Ozark Regional continues to work with other smaller communities for support and services.
With resources, Ozark Regional Transit can respond, as it's doing now, with route changes and extensions that serve more people in more areas, such as a five-day-a-week route from Elkins to Prairie Grove. Such progress will make transit more accessible and convenient, characteristics necessary before more people can wrap their minds around mass transit as viable option for daily transportation.
Roll on, Ozark Regional Transit.
Commentary on 03/05/2014