my 40K sized university town here in TN recently got a bus service. we got it through stimulus funds. the justification? College kids were having to walk a MILE to retail stores... The poor who don’t have cars need it (never mind that there is already a free ferry service for the poor and elderly). Of course, the grant only covered the buses. We the local taxpayers get to pay for the upkeep, employees, etc... so now we have these bright green shiny buses driving around.....empty. Haven’t yet seen a passenger on them.
They drives routes here all day whether anyone needs them or not. I remember the city council rejected a private alternative a while back to use smaller buses and a flex routing system where based on the riders residences they could actually change routes on the fly.
Stoopid.
In Houston, the city refuses internal and extenal ad revenues (something commonly seen on public transportation in other cities).
The revenue is available to fund public transportation, the city refuses it. But it’s driven by the same mindset that required all businesses to put their trash bins behind fences to “beautify” the city.
PS the city raised fares 25%
cookeville?