South Shore-Carson City bus route threatened
People relying on public transportation to get between the South Shore and Carson City may be out of luck starting Oct. 1.
The Tahoe Transportation District, which operates the BlueGo bus system, is losing funding for the 5-year-old route as of Sept. 30. It is not eligible for federal funding because Tahoe is no longer designated a rural area when it comes to transportation dollars.
The Stateline-based TTD lobbied hard to get the basin to be considered an urban area with the goal of being able to obtain more transportation dollars. Losing route 21x, which has 25,000 rides a year, is one of the side effects of that change.
The transportation agency is looking for other ways to pay for the route so there is not an interruption in what is mostly a commuter service.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
This is an UNINTENDED consequence of being a (Tahoe) Metropolitan Planning Organization in supporting the greater good.
The Tahoe Regional Transportation Plan: Mobility 2035 seeks to promote sustainability, while at the same time improving mobility for the region and creating walkable communities that offer residents transportation alternatives. Due to the various roles TRPA plays, the Tahoe Regional Transportation Plan serves several important functions. The plan:
Is the regional transportation plan (RTP) under California state law
Is the region’s long range transportation plan under Federal law
Fulfills requirements of the Bi-State Compact for a regional transportation plan
Will help achieve the Bi-State Compact’s environmental threshold requirements
Contains the region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) under SB 375
Will help the region meet Lake Tahoe total maximum daily loads
http://www.ca-ilg.org/MPO-profile/tahoe-metropolitan-planning-organization-trpa
25,000 rides a year divided by 365 days equals 69 rides a day or 35 round trips. If we use 250 working days divided into 25,000 rides we get 100 rides per day or 50 round trips.
So what resources does it take to provide transportation to 50 people a day? Come on TTD and give us the facts, just the facts. But I know you won’t because too many people would be shocked at the cost.