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| FL bus service will need funding help soon |
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| Thursday, 11 September 2008 | |
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Cliff Buchan News Editor Next Tuesday’s opening of the new I-35W bridge in Minneapolis is being hailed as good news. But for officials in Washington County, the bridge opening is posing a major problem. With the scheduled September 16 opening, federal funding which is subsidizing the Forest Lake to Minneapolis commuter bus service, will end. “I am trying to get the money to keep it going,” said First District County Commissioner Dennis Hegberg of Forest Lake this week. The Route 288 bus service, which runs from the new Washington County Transit Center in Forest Lake, has been widely popular, drawing between 8000 and 9000 riders a month since it commenced in January. The Met Council funding was provided via federal grant dollars that came to Minnesota in wake of the I-35W bridge collapse on August 1, 2007. In a statement released on Thursday, the Met Council said: “Federal funds may not be used to fund the service after the bridge opens, but the Met Council is working with its partners (Washington, Chisago, and Anoka counties and the cities of Forest Lake and Columbus) to continue the service. “The service will continue at least until October 1, with anticipation that a funding partnership and plan will be formed by then to determine how the service can be continued.” Hegberg said he will make immediate appeals to Anoka and Chisago counties to join Washington County in providing funds to carry the service through the remainder of 2008. An appeal may also be made to Hennepin County, he said. For now, he said, it appears the Met Council will use its contingency funding to allow the bus service to continue through the end of September. For the remainder of the year, he said Washington, Anoka and Chisago counties may need to step forward with $60,000 each to cover the transportation service for the final three months of the year. The counties may need to pick up 50 to 60 percent of the cost that falls outside of fares paid by area residents using the bus service to Minneapolis. “We did make a federal appeal,” Hegberg said, “but by law it (the funding) has to end.” Washington County may find help in funds from the Counties Transit Improvement Board taxing area. Since June 1, Washington and Anoka counties have been collecting the quarter-cent sales tax after the county boards voted to join the CTIB network which was created to fund transit needs, such as bus service. It will be left to the CTIB to determine if those sales tax dollars can be used to pay for the bus service, Hegberg said. Hegberg said the Met Council is projected to receive the first $30 million of funds for the fiscal year that started on July 1, 2008 and ends on June 30, 2009. He said he remains optimistic that some of those funds can be used to help cover costs of the Forest Lake to Minneapolis bus service. The Met Council released statistics this week that show the bus service started the year with 6288 passengers riding the bus in January. By June, the ridership peaked at 9709 customers for the month. The total for July was 8698 riders with figures for August yet to be compiled. Social Bookmarking ...       |
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