I was mostly replying to “Easter,” who said “Make the riders pay for the commuter bus!”

I’ll gladly stand by my streetcar comparison… if we had another $2 million per year to kick into ValleyRide, it might become almost useful to a lot more taxpaying citizens!

If Eagle finances are as fragile as this renegging implies, then perhaps the city needs to consider permitting more commercial and industrial uses within its city limits. Maybe granting all those construction permits for residential develoment within the Boise River flood plain really wasn’t a good idea — not just because the land was prone to flooding, but also because it was residential.

If one were to adopt the “pay to play” philosophy for public services then every homeowner in Ada County would be caught short — forced to cough up tens of thousands of dollars to “pay their fair share” for everything from roads, to sewers, to schools, to parks. Transit isn’t a luxury item that you just cut back on when funds are tight, it’s a basic public service.

Truth is, only commerical property and rural ag land would be on the plus side of such a pay-to-play equation (commercial because it pays far more for services than it consumes, and rural ag land because it hardly demands any such services). You don’t have to take my word for it, the American Farmland Trust has performed hundreds of such evaluations across the country (two in Idaho, Cassia and Canyon Counties) that bear this out.

http://www.farmlandinfo.org/documents/27757/COCS_09-2007.pdf

Eagle City Council ought to be ashamed of itself for welching on its fiscal obligation — regardless of who picked up its tab.

The question is… how much, and which taxpayers? If I were on the Eagle City Council, I’d be publicizing the fact that I saved Eagle taxpayers some $$ by shifting the burden to OTHER taxpayers.

PERSPECTIVE: Suppose it costs $50K/year to run the Highway 44 bus. And suppose the Streetcar costs $60 million to build, and $2 million/year to operate. (The proponents’ numbers.) You could run 2 Highway 44 buses per hour for 20 hours / day, for the same amount as the Streetcar operation. And for the cost of installing the Streetcar, you could run the Highway 44 bus for the next 1200 years! ($50K/year is CHUMP CHANGE!)

Why is anyone pointing a finger at Eagle or Boise?

What is wrong with Valley Transit charging those 14 people for their commute?

$50,000 divided by 14 people is 3,571 per year and $297/month.

Any idiot who lives in Eagle or beyond can expect to pay way more than $300/mo to COMMUTE to Boise.

MAKE THE RIDERS PAY FOR THE COMMUTER BUS!!

Obviously Valley Transit, and Commuterride (ACHD) are mismanaged by not requiring a fair fare for the riders. Commuterride is a money loser and the bus is too- who wants to pay for a loser?

The reality is that our bus system is a black hole used to consume taxpayer money. The entire valley is sprawling and not designed for any mass transit system. Poor planning and design has led us to this conundrum. Wasting money on inefficiently run bus systems will not solve the realities of geography, population sprawl, and the fact that people in general don’t like riding a bus.

Eagle has trouble taking responsibility for municipal services. And, they will keep doing it as long as fools like Boise and BSU keep bailing them out.