We might end up with another void, the bus manufacturers struggling to keep up with orders. It might be a good time to invest in technology, communication, and passenger amenities, unless of course, you really need the new vehicles.

While I agree that the lack of moneys set aside for operations is a huge whole in the stimulus plan and likewise agree that bus manufacturers will struggle to keep up with demand (in fact, they already are - just ask any big time transit agency with an aging fleet and orders on the books that may or may not be fulfilled); in my eyes, a good portion of the money should have been set aside for studies that analyze the feasibility and validity of these previously "pie-in-the-sky" ideas. I fear that most of the money spent through the stimulus for bus transit will be wasted as service start to fail because they were too far reaching.

One has to wonder what or who is driving this investment in public transport. Why now and why the rush? As Dan said, with capital investment monies pouring in, where was there the forethought of how Ops will support it?

Absolutely correct. It's real nice to purchase shiny, new, "green" buses. But now I have to buy more buses to provide the same number of seats ( yea, we let them stand too), and hire more operators and mechanics.......and nobody is providing any more operating $$$ !

What's wrong with this picture ?

I can write only from the perspective of my system. The slowing economy has so impacted our operating revenues that we have cut 20% of our service in the past two years and will be required to cut an additional 30% in the next 12 months. This destroys 20 years of steady progress in building transit ridership in our community. Once the economy turns around, it may take a decade to recover these customers. I find it deeply troubling that our nation can spend billions to bail out the banking industry and yet balks at spending a fraction of this to prevent the gutting of our of our transit systems. Providing additional short-term operating assistance to transit systems and allowing them the flexibility to use formula funds for operations until the economy rebounds could stave off this disaster. I have received a considerable number of media and public inquiries asking why we are spending ARRA funds on new vehicles and facilities when we are cutting service. After hearing the explanation of the restrictions on the use of these funds, the overwhelming response is that the federal government is out of touch with reality.

The public transportation industry has been historically plagued by inadequate funding for operations. Operations funding must be corrected before spending on capital programs can be effective. The government is putting the cart before the horse in restricting the use of these funds.

Stimulus money is wonderful except it needs to be used in operations as well if they truely wish to stimulate the business. With the current economy our ridership has risen considerably and we struggle to manage the loads and maintain on time service during certain times of the day. If it could be used is operations one way it could possibly be used is to offset fare increases to the riding public.

My heart goes out for systems that are making significant cuts in service.

Conventional public transit is expensive. If revenues aren't there to support services, you need to politically organize or community organize to get them.

At the same time, community transportation is more than fixed-route service. I think you need to provide or support as many alternative transportation services as possible including ride-sharing and volunteer-driver services. Google ITNAmerica for an example of social community business development.

With the slowdown in the economy resulting in a 20% loss in our revenues service cuts and fare increases are required. It will take some time to recover the ridership numbers following a stiff fare adjustment. Stimulas money could have been used (would have been nice) to offset the revenue slide for many transit systems faced with the same dilemma.

The stimulus program is the one we have. Every prudent system of any size should have been developing projects that will improve efficiency as well as the riding experience. Whether a new rail system, BRT, or facility, the project should increase mobility at a lower cost. With horrible underfunding of new projects in recent years, the stimulus is just what we need to accelerate the future of transit choices.

Maintaining service in down economy that may even increase demand is also a vital issue transit shares with many public services. Its not new and it needs development of a base of support.