HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunication/Transit September 22, 2014
Oshkosh Common Council
215 Church St. D 2 � � n � i2
Oshkosh, WI 54901 �� « LS
Charles Hodge Secretary SEP 2 � 2014
Greater Winnebago Advocacy
Coalition on Mobility CITY CLERK S OFFICE
Dear council Members,
Transportation Development Plans, developed by the EWRCP, are obviously required by the
Department of Transportation, and are used by NGO's and local governments to establish their need
for federal assistance on operating and capital assistance. So, however unfortunate it may be, I would
like to point out it is pretty clear that Go Transit, in anticipation of cut backs in Federal Transportation
Funding, went on a spending spree on themselves with the available DOT capital assistance grants
available in 2013. The results?.....A dysfunctional, ADA non-complaint fixed route system where only
$10,000 was earmarked for ADA compliance projects which supposedly involved a few paving and
curbing improvements.
Contrary to what the Transportation Department and now Options for Independent Living have been
saying, the present fixed route system is absolutely riddled with ADA violations and FTA compliance
issues. All these problems are the direct result of Go Transit spending almost all of the Federal Grant
Money they received in 2013 on expensive items for themselves. They totally disregarded the capital
improvements which were suggested in the 2011 Oshkosh Transportation Development which would
have made the present fixed route system ADA compliant. They instead spent the grant money on:
1. A$110,000 on a passenger counting system that cannot tell the difference between the elderly
and disabled from regular riders. This is especially problematic because passenger numbers and
boarding and alighting locations are used by Go Transit to justify changes in the fixed route system
and the elderly and disabled will not be represented in the passenger counts. Another concerning
matter is, Go Transit has a history of reporting deceptive and misleading numbers regarding
passenger counts if it helps them advance their agendas:
May 2012, TransitAdvisory Board Aqenda Items, "Fewerstops in parkinp lots"
"Currently, 93 percent of the passengers at the 88 most highly used stops in the system do not access
the system in parking lots." "This increases to 96 percent of passengers."
The truth is, almost all of the destinations which required the buses to enter parking lots were
actually some of the most highly used stops in the system. "Out of Go Transits 89 bus stops, a total of
11 required entering parking lots. Out of those 11 bus stops, 3 were found to be among the 10 busiest
stops in the system, and 5 of those stops were among the top 20. (my letter to Christopher Strong,
former Director of the Oshkosh Transportation Department dated July 30, 2013, re: Memorandum ro
the TransitAdvisory Board Members, August 10, 2011, Attachment 8: Proposed Changes in Access to
High Usage Stops.)
This new piece of technology being used by Go Transit apparently, does not offer any auditing
capabilities where the Go Transit passenger counts can be checked for tampering and accuracy. All
The Transportation Department needs to do is interrupt the laser on the counter as many times as
they feel is sufficient, or they could perform a time ctock revision with the system and revise the
passenger counts any way they want to. EWRPC and the public should be highly skeptical and
concerned about this new Passenger Counting System;there are just too many ways to beat it.
2. $113,000 in surveillance upgrades on Buses and to the Transit Facilities. "Upgrades", indicates
that the surveillance systems on Go Transit Buses and the Transit Facilities were in good working
order. Yet, during this time of fiscal cutbacks and new budget considerations, Go Transit spent
$113,000 on upgrading a surveillance system that didn't need upgrading. They could have spent the
taxpayer's money on something that Go Transit really needed, like capital improvements to make the
fixed route system ADA compliant.
3. $60,000 on an accessible van they said was replacing a supervisor/staff vehicle. Go Transit already
has a couple of late model, compact supervisor/staff vehicles. The van they wanted to replace was a
van which is used by Go Transit Drivers. Go Transit claims that: "this vehicle has been used to help
routes "catch up"when they have fallen behind schedule, and rherefore is used for passenger
transport from time to time"....an accessible vehicle insures that we are providing equitable service for
our customers."
The Transportation Department knows the only equitable service this new "accessible van" is going to
provide is to Go Transit Bus Drivers at shift changes. The Oshkosh Transportation Department used
some very questionable and suspicious reasons for wanting to purchase this accessible van. They did
however, fail to mention in the public record the van's primary purpose includes making stops at
Starbucks and shuttling Go Transit Drivers around town. Go Transit Buses go everywhere and
anywhere that Go Transit Bus Drivers would need to go. Go Transit Drivers should be riding Go
Transit buses to their shift changes, because it would have meant$60,000 more could have been
spent on the capital improvements that the fixed route system needed in order to be ADA compliant.
My biggest concern with the present fixed route system is Go Transit did not follow the
Transportation Development Plan's recommendation to implement a single hub fixed route system
for the city of Oshkosh and their continued resistance to change it back to a single hub system.
Instead, they designed a system with 6 hubs/transfer points, which has in effect, doubled the chance
of slip trip and fall injuries to the elderly and disabled and has caused many of them to start using
more specialized transportation alternatives, "which is a more limiting and a more costly option,
resulting in less cost-effective use of taxpayers'dollars." (Katie Mnuk, Chief Executive Officer,
Lakeland Care District in a letter to Mark Rohloff, Oshkosh City Manager, dated September 23 2013.)
These 6 hubs/transfer points combine to form the largest single accessibility barrier for the elderly
and the disabled of our city. Clearly these 6 hubs/transfer points are not needed in a city the size of
Oshkosh. And it is extremely clear that these hubs/transfer points continue to violate the accessibility
and transportation rights of the elderly and disable which are guaranteed by the ADA. The
Transportation Development Plan, also emphasized that a "system with multiple hubs would not work
in a city the size of Oshkosh." It even offered Go Transit, 2 single hub "transit model proven"
system/routes that included service to all the new destinations Go Transit said it wanted to serve.
The Transportation Plan even stated that "single hub fixed route systems have been used for decades
and have been very successful in cities the size of Oshkosh". It is completely unacceptable that after
year and a half of waiting the elderly and the disabled are still waiting for an ADA compliant fixed
route system that they can safely use.
It is hoped that the Common Council will see that they need to take action on this very important
transportation issue and instruct City Management and the Transportation Department to adopt and
implement one of the two alternative system/routes given in the 2011 Transportation Development
Plan for Go Transit. This has gone on much too long, and is unacceptable to not only me, but every
other physically challenged or elderly person in Oshkosh who rides or wants to ride the buses at Go
Transit.
Chuck Hodge
GWACM Secretary