This is a countdown of the top 10 stories of 2022 written by Cat Petersen and/or Kevin Woodard. These are stories in the sense of “stories we followed.” Each of these “stories” had multiple stories written about them and published on our web site.
Number 5. Connect Transit
Connect Transit is scrutinized by fiscal conservatives as an example of government waste. Millions of dollars are spent providing local bus service. But often when you see a bus on the street you don’t see many people on it.
In April Connect Transit General Manager David Braun proposed an 18% increase in their operating budget for 2023. That’s $2.9 million more than the previous year’s budget. $11.5 million in revenue is expected from the IL Downstate Operating Program while another $3.4 million is expected from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Operating Funds. Bloomington was asked to contribute $760,000 and Normal $590,000.
Normal Town Staff asked the town council to approve spending $200,000 per year of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for Connect Transit in May. The funds were requested to go towards the transit agency’s One Rate for All rate structure. The intent was to keep the rate charged to Connect Mobility users matching the rate charged to fixed route customers.
The action committed to a plan to make payments from the 2022-23 through 2025-26 budgets. Funding was included in the 2022-23 budget approved by the council in March.
Connect Transit started its One Rate for All plan in July 2020. All Connect riders now pay $1.25 per ride. Before that Connect Mobility riders paid up to $4.00 per ride. The One Rate for All plan was a recommendation made by the Connect to the Future (CttF) working group in March 2020. This was done to, “position the community’s public transit for future success.”
City Manager Pam Reece pointed out that the Town spending $200,000 on Connect Transit allows them to leverage $900,000 of state funding. She said that staff had suggested that this might be a good use of ARPA funding for that reason.
Council member Stan Nord argued that the funding would be better spent on capital projects. Nord pointed out that residents of Normal in some areas are still getting dirty water due to water mains that are 60 years old suggesting the money might be better spent on water main projects.
In July the Connect Transit Board of Trustees authorized their general manager to award a contract for completing a midlife overhaul of 11 buses. Five 2015 and seven 2016 New Flyer buses were scheduled to be overhauled by Cummins Sales and Service of Normal.
The price of this contract was $1.46 million. $950,000 was funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). $510,000 was funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
Midlife overhauls have become common practice in the mass transit industry. Performing overhauls extends the life of buses, saves maintenance expenses, and reduces failures while buses are on routes. Midlife overhauls also provide new warranties on engines and transmissions.
In August we wrote a story regarding capital projects. One of the projects discussed was Connect Transit looking at the Market Street Parking Garage site as its choice for a bus transfer center. Connect Transit is working closely with the City of Bloomington to determine the best site for both parties.
Braun said, “Key issues that will influence the decision include … the number of parking spaces available, location of parking while the site is being built, value of the land and ownership and responsibility issues concerning the demolition of the existing deck, costs of building, long-term maintenance and operations, potential retail space and other nuances.”
Because Connect Transit is using federal dollars for the project they are required to conduct a study to show they have followed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process.
According to Braun, “The study considers the impact of the proposed facility on the surrounding area (lighting, vibration) as well as environmental issues that might be present on the site and any potentially historical aspects of the site and surrounding buildings that would require more sensitivity, preservation, or other mitigation factors.”
Also in August, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced awards for the Bus and Bus Facilities discretionary grant program. Connect Transit received $13.1 million that was advocated for by United States Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and United States Representatives Darin LaHood and Rodney Davis.
Braun broke down for Cities 92.9 how this funding could be used telling us;
- $5 million would allow the purchase of five new electric buses,
- $1.5 million could purchase six micro transit vehicles and
- $6.6 million could be used for a new Maintenance, Storage and Training Facility.
Later in August the Connect Transit Board approved a new bus route to serve Rivian. It was announced that the the route would run from Uptown Station to Rivian then to W. Market St. and from there to Downtown Bloomington. The route would then reverse its route back to Uptown Station. The new route would replace the old Lime Express route that ran on W. Market St.
Connect Transit opened its Sapphire route serving Rivian and W, Market St. on October 9th. Coincidentally the route opened shortly after Connect Transit announced it was reducing the frequency of some routes because of a driver shortage.
Connect Transit also celebrated electrification in October. Over 100 people attended for a ceremonial plugging in of, and to take trip in, an electric bus. Connect’s unique 1.5 Megawatt charging station that can charge up to 40-buses was a highlight of the affair. The agency also shared its plans for future services and facilities.
At that month’s board meeting Braun asked the board to award a contract for strategic messaging consultation services to Dovetail.
Braun told Cities 92.9, “The messaging consultant will help us achieve one of the recommendations made by the Connect to the Future (CttF) group in 2019. We recognize the need to further educate people in the Bloomington-Normal area about the value Connect Transit provides, especially as the city and town grow and new people are introduced to the community.”
