CARBONDALE — After voters approved a big tax increase for regional transit last week,
RFTA board members may have expected a warm and fuzzy meeting Thursday.
Instead, they had a full busload of thorny agenda items.
They approved a 5 percent fare hike on discount bus passes as part of a $29 million operating budget for next year.
They learned that new corner “bulb-outs” on Colorado Avenue in Carbondale have made some intersections too narrow for RFTA buses, which means the downtown bus stop at 6th Avenue and Main Street may stay closed for the winter.
They approved a new five-year contract for RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship.
And the board members considered a potential experiment this summer where muzzled dogs, accompanied by responsible humans, could be let on RFTA buses between Aspen and Snowmass.
The morning RFTA meeting at Carbondale Town Hall jumped to a start when Joanee Teeple asked to move the Main Street bus stop item up the agenda, as she had to catch a bus to get to work.
The board agreed, and Teeple, who lives on Third Street in Carbondale, approached the board and threw a curveball at the group of regional elected officials.
Had any of them ridden the bus to the RFTA meeting?
None of the board members said a word or raised a hand.
Not Bob Gordon of New Castle, Sara Fisher from Eagle County, or Michael Owsley from Pitkin County. Not John Wilkinson or Arnie Mordkin from Snowmass Village. Not Ed Cortez or John Hoffmann from Carbondale.
Not Dave Sturgis or Bruce Christensen from Glenwood Springs. Not Jacque Whitsitt from Basalt. Or Dwayne Romero from Aspen.
Not one of the 11 elected officials had taken a bus to the regional transit meeting.
“Uh-huh,” Teeple said, letting the board’s silent response hang in the meeting room.
Then, without further comment on the lack of bus ridership, Teeple asked why RFTA hadn’t responded to the town’s plan for the Colorado Avenue sidewalk improvements, even though a RFTA employee had sat in on the town’s weekly design and construction meetings.
“I think we should take ownership,” responded Kent Blackmer, director of operations for RFTA.
He conceded that a RFTA representative had indeed been at the table throughout the “bulb-out” project and should have more effectively raised concerns about the turning radius through intersections used by the 95 RFTA buses a day that come through town.
But now what?
“This may be the moment where Carbondale needs to consider having [its] own transit service to serve their downtown and school areas,” said John Wilkinson of Snowmass Village.
Wilkinson reasoned that smaller buses could still get through Carbondale’s newly narrowed streets and could ferry passengers from downtown to the park-and-ride on Highway 133. That way, large buses could save time by avoiding the tour of downtown Carbondale.
There was no comment from the two Carbondale council members about starting a new town transit department.
Then it was back to the new bulb-outs, which refers to enlarged sidewalk spaces at crosswalks designed to make it easier for pedestrians to cross the street. Perhaps the bulb-outs could be removed. Or changed.
“We’re only talking concrete,” said Larry Ballenger, public works director for the town. “We have jackhammers. They sell concrete by the truckload.”
The RFTA board ultimately sent the issue to Carbondale Town Council. Until a solution is found, RFTA buses will not be stopping at 6th and Main and riders will need to use the stops by the Subway store near Highway 133.
Then RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship and RFTA Director Finance John Tangen recommended a 5 percent fare increase for punch passes, monthly passes and seasonal bus passes as part of the 2009 budget. The increase would not change the price at the bus fare box, which is $6 from Glenwood to Aspen and $3 from Basalt to Aspen.
Ed Cortez and John Hoffmann of Carbondale both thought the fare increase was a bad idea on the heels of the sale tax increase approved by voters.
Cortez said as a taxpayer, he was thinking to himself, “Wait a minute, I just voted for 4A and now I’m being asked to approve a fare increase?”
“As a PR move, this is abysmal,” said Hoffmann, who was there as a non-voting alternate.
But Christensen of Glenwood Springs countered the point.
“We’re looking at an operational budget here and the vote was for future items,” he said. “We have to operate the system and also plan for the future. Those are two different things.”
Blankenship said the 2009 budget was a “status quo” budget and did not include the estimated $6 million in new annual revenue from the recent sales tax increase.
That money would appear in a supplemental budget and was specifically for those elements included in the ballot question, such as new buses, a new Glenwood maintenance facility and new BRT stations and equipment.
The budget was approved by the board, although Cortez voted against it.
The budget assumes regional sales tax revenue in 2009 will be flat. The board reviewed a contingency plan if revenue falls 5 to 10 percent, including using $3.3 million set aside for capital improvements.
Despite the potentially low revenues, RFTA employees were given a 4 percent salary increase. That included Blankenship, whose salary last year was $126,000. Additionally, he was given an $8,000 bonus.
Also discussed was a citizen’s request that dogs be allowed on Aspen’s city bus routes, as long as the dogs were leashed and muzzled and their owners had signed up in advance.
Mordkin said dogs are allowed on Snowmass Village buses.
“Unaccompanied?” asked Owsley.
No, came the reply. Dogs on Snowmass buses are required to be accompanied by a human.
Blankenship said he’d heard from people who didn’t want dogs on buses, citing dog fights, overcrowding and allergies. He said a public process and a trial run would be required.
Wilkinson asked if RFTA’s insurance policy would allow dogs. Someone said dogs would need to be muzzled to ride the bus.
Billy Bryant, RFTA’s director of human resources and risk management, said he would check the agency’s insurance policy on the issue.
“I would like to check on the idea of using muzzles on some of our riders,” Bryant joked.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
