Bus Stop in Delmont in Danger

Yesterday, I made posts in the following Communities on FaceBook: Delmont, Franklin Regional, and Westmoreland County.  The purpose of the posts is to encourage residents that use the service to encourage Council to act and ensure continued service. I received some criticism for not telling "the whole" story.

There are two approaches for learning "the whole" story in Delmont Politics.  The first is to meet in Council Chambers and discuss individual perceptions of the issues and their effects on the community.  Many of us may feel like our perceptions are actually facts and have difficulty in understanding why the citizens of Delmont don't agree with the findings.  They just don't understand the "facts" behind the "whole story".

The second approach is to attempt to verify the information with any agencies that have insight then to actually go into the community and start talking with the citizens about their understandings of the issues and how their lives are affected by the decisions we are making on behalf of those who elected us to office.  The information in this post is from 1) Information from the Westmoreland County Transit Authority. 2) Talking to passengers and business people on April 8, 2016., and 3) Previous actions taken by Council.

Delmont's share is $1,190.00.  This portion goes toward grant matching for state and Federal programs.  According to my calculations( I am basing this on a Borough population of 2663) comes out to $0.037 a month per resident to have this service available.  Our share amount is $1,130 cheaper than a bill we paid for avoidable repairs.  It is 30x or more cheaper then a consideration that would have provided no immediate service benefit to our citizens.  I am not a spend thrift but to my thinking spending this small amount is a no brainer, but let me provide some additional information.

There are two routes that currently go through Delmont.  The 2F Route is the Latrobe to Pittsburgh Flyer.  In January this route ran for 20 days and had 4,922 passengers.  In February, due to Leap Year, it operated 21 days and had 5,076 passengers.  If the extra day is taken into account there is still a 4% increase in riders.

The second bus route through Delmont is 12  the Greensburg/New Kensington route.  January they had 568 passengers, and in February there were 752 Passengers.  Adjusting for Leap-Year there was still a 5% increase.

Here is where the math gets a bit fuzzy.  The WT (Westmoreland Transit Authority) knows 85% of those passengers on the 2F route board between Delmont and Murrysville.  That is approximately 216 passengers a day.  The problem is there is also a stop in Export and Murrysville.  It is unclear if WT's estimate is before the Murrysville pick up, or after the pick-up.  This is problematic for many of the members of council because they want the "hard" numbers of how many Borough residents are benefiting for the money the spent.

What I learned talking to riders.   There was a rider from Punxsutawney that riders come from Ligoner regularly.  Slickville is a common point of ridership,  Yes, I even talked to two Borough residents.  Now the day that I was there was a Friday and that is a low ridership day for the bus.  I only talked to five people from three buses. One of the riders has her nails down at the nail shop in the Central Hotel Building.

I stopped in Ianni's Pizza to ask them some questions.  Incidentally, one of the passengers that I talked to was walking out of Ianni's carrying a pizza home.  Ianni's was extremely busy.  The worker I talked to said the get a fair amount of business from riders of the bus.  She also informed me that she personally lives in the Crammer plant and that there are many people that live there that the bus is their sole source of transportation. 

WT offers 10 trip passes that range in price from $13.00 to $40.00 depending on how many zones a rider goes through.  The monthly pass ranges from $48.00-$144.00 again dependent on zone travel.  These fees are extremely reasonable if we consider the cost of fuel, parking, insurance, etc. of operating a vehicle.  In fact, if it wasn't for bus service many people couldn't afford to work.

Conclusions:
1.  A large number of non-Borough Residents use the service in Delmont.
2.  Many riders support local business.
3.  Enough Residents use the service to justify the minimal cost.
4.  Negative economic impacts of discontinuing service are far greater than spending the $1190 to keep them.

Perhaps if I act like I am opposed to spending the $1190 it would have a greater chance of passing in council, but you elected me to act in your best interests.  If you oppose the $1190 expense let ,me know.