City Government
Nampa Cuts “Empty Bus Subsidy”
June 22, 2016 
Looks like Valley Regional Transit (Valley Ride bus) is taking a financial hit from the City of Nampa based on recent council action.
Nampa City Council, on a motion by Councilor Bruce Skaug, voted to reduce the public transit dues to Valley Ride. Last year, the City of Nampa subsidized Valley Ride with two checks. One for $295,918 and another for $29,812. Total paid $325,730.
Bus/Van ridership has dropped each year in Nampa, yet Valley Ride requested MORE funds for FY 2017 from Nampa in the amount of $346,196.
City Council, in a 4 to 2 vote, not only denied the increased dues, but reduced the subsidy to $303,730 which is a 7% reduction.
The mayor opposed the reduction and wanted the increased dues. The council members who voted for the reduction will no doubt take some heat from “central planners” who are striving for mass transit and increased population to justify the “mass.” Voting in favor of the cut were Councilors Paul Raymond, Darl Bruner, Randy Haverfield and Bruce Skaug.
The funds saved will be used for emergency fuel storage/transport for city public safety vehicles.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jun 22, 2016, 12:33 pm
“emergency fuel storage/transport”
What?
Because they don’t have enough funds/supply for “emergency fuel” right now?
Dumb!
Deny the increase and return the money to the taxpayers!
Better yet, demand VRT does better service if they want anything in the future.
Jun 22, 2016, 12:37 pm
May other cities profit by Nampa’s example.
Jun 22, 2016, 4:56 pm
If all the Nampans would stay in Nampa, Boise’s traffic would be MUCH less congested!
But two can play this game… I bet the bus company will threaten to quit driving empty buses between Nampa and Boise.
Jun 22, 2016, 6:28 pm
Free Riders please move far far away!
Jun 22, 2016, 7:00 pm
Free Rider indeed. ‘Buy a car,’ you may not be aware that drivers are also getting a ‘free ride’ – less than half of the funds ACHD receives come directly from gas tax & registration fees – and the largest amount is from property taxes.
Jun 22, 2016, 10:27 pm
Any idea how many riders? We could figure what the cost per rider is that the city is paying…likely quite a bit.
EDITOR NOTE–Voter, that may be hard to determine. We heard there was a problem with fare boxes a few months ago, but never heard if the issue was resolved.
Jun 23, 2016, 8:44 am
Reminds me of the time that Charles Schwab wanted to charge me a “non-use” annual fee because I did not trade enough.
Jun 23, 2016, 2:02 pm
With gas prices at moderate levels, ridership always falls. But Nampa-Caldwell transit service has always been inadequate. If it doesn’t go where you need, who’s gonna use it? And I suspect that there’s an underground economy of private transit in the form of DYI taxi services. This is a survivor economy that has elicited new methods of getting around. A free ride or a ride for a couple of buck is just a cell phone call or text away. It’s Underground Uber. More people bike now too.