December 2, 2011

Negotiations between the City of Columbia and MU concerning Columbia Transit’s budget deficit problems continued through November. The city offered two solutions to eliminate the deficit: cut $1 million in transit services or charge MU students a mandatory $80 fee per semester that would go to Columbia Transit.

Representatives from the City of Columbia and MU met Nov. 15 to discuss possible solutions for Columbia Transit’s $1 million budget deficit.

“It seems very much like an all-or-nothing situation that we’ve been placed in,” Missouri Students Association President Eric Woods said.

Woods is one of three MU students on the Transit Task Force, the group working to come to an agreement between the university and the city. He attended the meeting Nov. 15.

In order to cut $1 million in services, Columbia Transit is prepared to cut the Black and Gold lines completely, cut late buses on weekends and lengthen the interval that buses run from every 40 minutes to every 80 minutes, according to the city’s bus transportation Powerpoint presentation.

“It’s unfair that we’re being faced with a decision to subsidize a failing public transportation system or lose services that many students depend on,” Woods said.

The other option the city presented would be an $80 a semester fee that MU students would be required to pay. This fee would prevent the Columbia Transit cuts and would increase services around the city.

The City of Columbia estimates that the student fee would allow for 33 additional buses to be in service. It would also decrease wait time between buses, and MU students would be able to ride without paying additional bus fare by swiping their ID cards.

Although the City of Columbia has suggested a fee increase for MU students, both Columbia College and Stephens College have said they would not increase student fees to pay for Columbia Transit. Columbia residents would also not be expected to pay for the $1 million budget deficit, Woods said.

“While (MU students) do make up most of the ridership, if we are going to come together as a community, then it should include all members of the community,” he said.

He said that Columbia Mayor Bob McDavid strongly opposes a tax increase to pay for the transit deficit.

“The mayor has said continually that he will not raise taxes on the community,” Woods said. “But I think what he neglects to consider is that the students at the university make up a large amount of the community. A fee increase is in effect a tax increase.”

Negotiations are going on between the City of Columbia and MU as part of the Transit Task Force. Representatives from the city as well as the university are members of the task force.

Both Woods and MSA Senate Speaker Jacob Sloan said they question how Columbia Transit accrued a $1 million budget deficit. Woods said McDavid did not provide a satisfactory answer to the question.

“Essentially, what they’ve been doing is pulling money from a savings account to subsidize the transit system,” Woods said.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Woods and Sloan discussed working on an alternative plan with Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe. Her ward includes areas of Columbia the Black and Gold lines service.

“She said she would be interested in having more discussion about this proposal and possibly working for a better plan,” Sloan said.

Both Woods and Sloan said they hope to continue the conversation between the city and the university.

“Our plan is to continue to discuss,” Sloan said. “I don’t want the conversation to die, because that doesn’t help anyone.”

One alternative that has already been explored is creating a transit service through the university that would be independent of Columbia Transit.

However, this system would be difficult to implement because of the number of students who live off campus, Sloan said.

“At the end of the day, the issue is how do we target every student,” he said.

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