Jefferson City transit has been a recurring issue throughout the last few years, as some residents call for expanded service, while city officials try to lower a roughly $1 million general fund subsidy for the service.
Late last month, the City Council appointed the first members of the newly-created Public Transit Advisory Committee, an idea first brought to the council by the Citizens for JeffTran group in spring 2013, after the transit system had been faced with budget cuts. The committee consists of seven members, each representing a specific interest.
The first meeting of the new committee is set for 11 a.m. Monday, where presentations will include operations and budget overviews, as well as a discussion on the duties of the committee.
With a six-way race set for the mayoral seat, the News Tribune sat down with each mayoral candidate to ask about their thoughts on Jefferson City transit and whether it needs to be expanded. (Candidates are listed in the order they will appear on the April ballot.)
3rd Ward Councilman Bob Scrivner said transit is a very difficult situation and while the council understands it is a vital service for some people, it comes down to an issue of funding.
"The problem that we're faced with is that the funding for transit comes from general revenue, and so does police, fire, public works, personnel," Scrivner said. "All of them are competing for a piece of the same pie, and the pie is only so large. So for one area to get more of the pie that means that another area gets less, and that's our challenge."
He said the new committee, along with the new transit director, Mark Mehmert, are exciting new additions to the conversation that is sure to continue, adding he hopes to see some out-of-the-box thinking. Scrivner said it has been a challenge to try to increase ridership as the city's culture may not favor it.
"Jefferson City's culture doesn't seem to be that of one that is going to utilize public transportation as a majority of folks, so when you're talking about trying to grow ridership, it's really, really difficult," Scrivner said. "Or it has been, so far at least, to take an automobile culture and gather a lot of new riders. ... I don't know what the answer is."
Leonard Steinman said the city needs to replace the large buses with a fleet of small buses that won't do as much damage to streets.
"We need to get rid of the big buses. They're never filled," Steinman said. "Big buses tear up streets. They take up too much room."
He said by using smaller buses, the city would be able to run more routes later in the evening without increasing costs. He said buses should have bicycle racks on the front and charge a small fee to mount a bicycle.
Steinman said it "irritates" him that Mehmert was hired as the city's transit director and he did not think Mehmert had the proper transit qualifications for the position.
"He's a good salesman, but what does he know about transportation?" Steinman asked.
Carrie Tergin said having Mehmert on staff and the creation of the advisory committee is showing a lot of momentum she hopes will help lead to some new ideas.
"Transit is a very important resource in our community," Tergin said. "The key, of course, is looking at our very limited resources."
She said the task now is to determine what is feasible and what isn't, as well as how new ideas can be implemented within the transit system.
"I think we've done a good job at looking at routes and trying to get them where the demand is, but what can we do to improve and make it better?" Tergin asked. "We want to make sure that we're working together and pooling our resources when it comes to transit."
She said she would like to see the service expanded, but she believes that will come naturally after the city is able to get the current system "where it needs to be." She said she's also interested in what private enterprise could provide, suggesting a private business could provide service to supplement the city's transit.
Edith Vogel said she's supportive of the new advisory committee and believes Mehmert is perfect for the transit position. She said she supports expansion of the system, even if it's no more than renting a van to provide service in the evenings.
"I definitely feel like we need to find some way, no matter what, to put buses in the evening," Vogel said. "There's got to be some way that we can provide transportation for the citizens on evenings and weekends."
Roy Viessman said he's spoken to people around town and learned many are not happy with hours of service.
"They would like to see it done much better," Viessman said. "But where do we get the money? That's an issue."
He said he wouldn't know how best to address that issue until he was more familiar with the day-to-day operations of the transit system.
"At this point, I can't tell you exactly how it's to be achieved," Viessman said. "But any time you've got a problem, it needs to be addressed and you always start out with ideas, words and then you come down to the bottom line."
Richard S. Groner said the big problem for transit is that the city is not laid out for good bus service. He said the city's grid system for streets makes it more difficult to serve a greater amount of the population.
"In the modern times, if you want to have a bus system, your city layout has to be completely different than it is now," Groner said. "In order to really make a solution to the transportation problem, we'd have to make a big change in our grid system of roads."
He said the system is unable to pay for itself because of the layout and the city structure, so to expand the service, the street layout would have to be revised.