The first table shows the effect of all participants dropping out with the extra 2nd bus costing $120,000 per year being shared in the same proportion as before by Coldstream and Vernon. Coldstream's share would increase to $31,569 and Vernon would jump to $88,431.The second table has the same starting cost of $120,000 but suggests that the allocation based on the conventional transit costs would be that Coldstream would pay $14,196 and that Vernon Taxpayers would pony up $105,804. (This is the information in the NORD Agenda package that will be debated on Wednesday.)
I trust that the costs for the first bus will remain within the Regional Bus Function and continue to be paid by all existing partners. The second bus at an estimated net cost of $120,000 will be assumed by the Vernon Transit system taxpayers for a minimum of 2 years (trial period) and any money agreed to by Coldstream, Areas B (who indicated support for his $5640 share of function) or Any Additional kick-in by Lake Country will reduce this burden on Vernon Taxpayers.
If Vernon took on the load by itself it would have a total cost of $120,000 and the function would be taxed as a municipal cost and the tax consequences to the various classes of taxpayer would arise. (business would pay 13.34% more and residential taxpayers would pay 9.94% less at the City level at current tax ratios.)
The expansion, set to begin in September, will see the first bus leave Vernon at 7 a.m., arriving at UBCO at 7:45 in time for 8 a.m. classes. The last bus will leave UBCO at 7:50 p.m., arriving in Vernon at 8:39 p.m. On all return trips to Vernon, the airport stop has nine minutes timetabled to allow people to get on and off with luggage, then continue on to Vernon.
(Perhaps the Airport Passengers should have a surcharge added to their bus rates so as to subsidize what essentially is a University bus and to avoid the appearance that this this bus is in cmpetition with a private Company namely the Airporter.)
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TDM LINK TO Information Below:
VERNON TO UBCO IN KELOWNA
UBC Okanagan, located at the north end of Kelowna, has 5,400 students. Nearly 500 students live in the Vernon/North Okanagan area and make daily trips to the UBCO campus in Kelowna.
The North Okanagan Regional District and City of Vernon addressed their need for regional transit to UBCO in 2008 by instituting four transit round trips per day between downtown Vernon and the campus in Kelowna. Connecting regional transit buses from areas around Vernon allow students from Lumby, Enderby and Armstrong to connect with the bus to UBCO.
Successful Program Delivery. The service is funded by the North Okanagan Regional District and the City of Vernon and carries 155 passengers per day (one-way trips), with the first morning trip to UBCO carrying 40 or more passengers, more than a fully seated load. Students with a U-Pass account for 75% of all trips, showing that there are others in the community taking advantage of this intercommunity link at an affordable $2.50 per trip. At UBCO, non-student riders can transfer to other transit routes in the Kelowna system.
2 comments:
The missing item in this proposal is the current ridership total and the demand survey ridership to support the additional bus.
The problem is that out of the 155 people that take the bus every day, most of them are on the same few buses... the buses to Kelowna at 7am and 8am, and the bus back to Vernon at 4pm.
Since most students finish school at 12:30 or 2 and there are no buses running between 12 and 4pm, most students that live in Vernon have to wait hours after they are done classes to go on the 4pm bus. This means this bus is frequently so over capacity that the riders cannot even manage to squish back over the red line. When I ride the bus in downtown Vancouver, this is never allowed to happen as allowing people to stand in front of the red line where there is nothing to hold on to is illegal. Yet, it is allowed to occur on this bus which travels at highway speeds for most of its 50-55 minute trip.
Then, leaving the school, there is the noon bus and the FOUR late buses that are always almost empty. So, yeah, I guess only about 155 people take the bus per day. But maybe if the majority of the buses were scheduled at times that people commonly traveled to and from the school, these people would be spread out more evenly over the trips, we wouldn't have to ride in unsafe conditions, and we wouldn't bitch so much for another bus.
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