The free rides are over on the Rock Region Metro streetcars in the Pulaski County transit agency's proposed $18 million operating budget for next year.
None of the three Rock Region partners who support the streetcars were willing to cough up the estimated $71,000 needed to cover lost fare revenue for 2018 despite the widely praised initiative sparking a surge in ridership and, according to some, increasing economic activity in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
"The 'free ride' summer promotion has been good for the image of the streetcars, good for businesses along the route and good for tourism," Bob Major, executive director of the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in a letter asking that the free rides continue next year.
Pulaski County, Little Rock and North Little Rock would have had to pay equal shares of $23,666 to see the promotion continue after Dec. 31, according to Wanda Crawford, the interim director of Rock Region.
She told the transit agency board's finance committee Thursday that both County Judge Barry Hyde of Pulaski County and North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith already had said no to the idea of coming up with the extra money.
Sara Lenehan, the finance committee chairman and finance director for Little Rock, said her city wouldn't be riding to the rescue, either.
"I know Little Rock would certainly not want to bear the full cost," she said.
But even without subsidizing the fare loss, all five of the transit agency's partners will have to pony up more cash to cover Rock Region's proposed 2018 operating budget.
The agency is asking for $13,306,801 combined from Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Maumelle and Pulaski County for 2018. The amount is $442,431, or 3.44 percent, more than $12,864,370 the agency requested from them for 2017.
Most of the total contributions, about $10.3 million, will subsidize regular bus routes. Just under $2 million will go to Metro Links, which is a service for people with disabilities, and about $1 million will pay for the streetcars.
Little Rock contributes the most. Rock Region has asked the city for $9,190,757, which is $327,782, or 3.7 percent, more than the $8,862,975 it is contributing this year.
"Are you comfortable with that?" Crawford asked Lenehan.
"I will have to discuss it with Bruce Moore," Lenehan responded, referring to the city manager.
The transit agency's board doesn't vote on the budget until November, but must clear it with its county and municipal partners, whose city councils and Quorum Court must appropriate the money.
Rock Region also has requested $2,751,849 from North Little Rock, which is a 2.9 percent increase over 2017; $1,245,184 from Pulaski County, a 2.71 percent increase; $79,750 from Sherwood, a 3.57 percent increase; and $39,261 from Maumelle, 3.56 percent more than 2017.
The total proposed operating budget of $18,094,170 represents a 3 percent increase over the 2017 budget, which covers pay increases under the bargaining agreement the transit agency has with union employees, slightly higher fuel prices and a continuing trend of falling ridership, blamed on low fuel prices.
"It is a trend we are doing everything we can to combat," Crawford said.
That includes hiring a second marketing employee to reach out personally to stakeholders and potential riders to explain to them how to ride a bus. The money to pay for the position is coming from money reserved for advertising, transit officials said.
Crawford, who is the transit agency's finance director and has no plans to seek the top post, said that without a permanent director, Rock Region will not make another try at seeking voter approval for a tax dedicated to transit funding in 2018. A 2016 initiative was rejected.
But a dedicated source of revenue is needed, Crawford said. While she said she remains confident that year-end fund balances will be large enough to have enough reserves to pay the agency's share of federal grants, she said beyond 2018 it is difficult to say agency reserves will be enough to ensure future federal grant matches.
Metro on 09/29/2017