The Central Illinois Organizing Project has come up with a new reason to continue its push for permanent evening bus service in Springfield - the fact that nine out of 10 similar-sized capital cities already have it.
"We wanted people in a position of responsibility to be aware of the divide that exists among state capitals," said Peter Avery of CIOP.
"It's not meant to be a 'shame on you' but to show there's an opportunity to do right and to do something right in a visible manner."
Springfield is the 19th smallest state capital city in the United States. CIOP surveyed the five on either side of 19 that were larger and smaller. The smaller cities were Charleston, W. Va.; Bismarck, N.D.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Trenton, N.J.; and Albany, N.Y. The five larger were Columbia, S.C.; Lansing, Mich.; Hartford, Conn.; Topeka, Kan.; and Salem, Ore.
Of those, the only one that doesn't have evening bus service is Bismarck. It has a population of 55,532.
Richard Fix, managing director of the Springfield Mass Transit District, said the information provided by CIOP is not thorough enough to accurately review.
"There's no consistency in it, and the biggest item that's missing is the (different districts') budgets," he said when he received the information Friday. "I don't know their budgets or their ridership. I have not had enough time to review it."
The SMTD is moving toward a test of evening bus service, however.
Congress on Friday approved a $375,000 grant to the SMTD to help pay for a yearlong test of evening bus service. The SMTD would use the money to run a reduced number of routes until 10:30 or 11:30 p.m.
Local buses now run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday (there is no Sunday service).
The SMTD also has qualified for state funds to study whether evening bus service would work in Springfield.
CIOP first came to the mass transit district in the summer of 2004 in hopes of getting the district to consider providing evening service. Part of their pitch was that it would help low-income people get to jobs on the opposite side of town and would allow disabled people to socialize, run errands and work at night.
A survey of other Illinois cities in 2004 showed that Peoria has evening bus service, as does Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal and Rockford, though some of those run at reduced levels.
In Columbia, S.C., the transit authority always has had evening bus service. It runs 28 evening routes and has about 2.6 million annual riders. That's about twice as many as Springfield has. It also has an $11 million budget, about double that of the SMTD.
Brittany Doten, marketing and customer service manager in Columbia, said the agency took the bus service over from a privately owned company in October 2002 and was given a trust to survive on until it puts to a referendum the idea of having a tax. The trust provides 20 percent of its annual funding. The federal government provides most of the rest of the funding. The bus service is not without its own worries.
"There is a concern the referendum might not pass," she said. "The (transit authority) has been publicizing this to make the no-riding community aware of it."
CIOP members said their capital city study also was meant to provide the mass transit district with some alternate financing options. There's a "supermarket" of ideas on how to fund nighttime service, including raising rates, they said.
A bus ride costs 75 cents in Springfield. Of the nine other capital cities, the cheapest fare is 85 cents and the most expensive is $3. Most are $1.
Other funding approaches include sales taxes, bus fares and grants from social service agencies - though most are run through a combination of local, state and federal money.
"One hypothesis is that Springfield is not where it's supposed to be," said Kathi Eads, a CIOP member. "Springfield is changing, and providing service to all groups - universal access - is an idea that has gained momentum."
Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.antonacci@sj-r.com.
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