Bay Town Trolley seeks support for more funding

PANAMA CITY, FL — Alan Gray has some explaining to do.
   
The Bay Town Trolley representative spoke to the Bay County Commission last Tuesday about how the trolley has grown since the municipalities started contributing in 2008, and why it deserves $76,327 from the county in fiscal 2010, $16,324 than it was approved for in fiscal 2009.
   
He didn’t win over the commission with his first effort. Two commissioners said Monday the trolley has yet to demonstrate why increased ridership still requires more taxpayer-financed revenue, and why the county should consider giving more money when a for-profit company serves as the trolley’s operator instead of the nonprofit Council on Aging.
   
“They brag about how much their ridership has increased,” said Commissioner Mike Thomas. “I would think that would result in an increase in revenue, to cut short the amount the county and the cities contribute.”
   
The trolley didn’t receive any local funding before 2008, when it petitioned the county and cities to chip in funds that could be leveraged for matching money from the state. The county pitched in $30,707 in 2008 and approved $60,003 to go the trolley in 2009, part of $169,495 the trolley drew from local governments and used to earn a match from the state.
   
With that extra money, the trolley’s services and ridership have expanded. Trolley ridership is up more than 70 percent from last year, according to Gray, thanks in part to extended service until 8 p.m. on weekdays and Saturday routes. The trolley provided 15,676 rides in 1996 but is on track for 632,000 this year.
   
This increased business apparently was behind the Council on Aging’s decision to give up operations of the trolley, which it did June 30.
   
“The trolley wasn’t serving our target population ... people who are transportationally disadvantaged,” said Council on Aging assistant director Karen Coffman. “It was growing to things that are other than that, so we decided not to do it anymore.”
   
Santa Ynez Valley Transportation Services took over in July, and that switch perturbed the commissioners.
   
“I have a problem with that,” said Commissioner George Gainer. “If they’re going to do it for a profit, then they don’t need to depend on nonprofit revenue.”
   
Gray said the trolley still operates under the umbrella of the Bay County Transportation Planning Organization and merely contracts Santa Ynez for operations. The trolley pays Santa Ynez $48 per revenue hour (one hour each bus is on the road, collecting fares); it paid the Council on Aging an average of $2.16 per ride (per person taking a ride), so Gray said he won’t know which operator cost more until the next quarterly report.
   
Gray did have a stack of numbers supporting his claims the trolley is well-run and deserving of the increased investment. He said last Tuesday the increase is because of the county’s absorption of Cedar Grove last year, and to pay for the increased service.
   
The trolley averages $38.74 in operating costs per revenue hour, compared to a state average of $98.92, according to Gray. Bay Town has the third-highest recovery rate of the 28 public transit systems in Florida, collecting 24.5 cents for every dollar it spends. Public funding must make up that difference, he said.
   
“If you had five times the amount of fires in the county, you wouldn’t want to cut firefighters,” said Gray.
   
The commissioners will next discuss budgetary issues at their Sept. 1 meeting. If Gray wants to see the trolley get the money it asked for, he has until then to work on the commission.
   
“There are just a lot of questions that need to be answered before I decide,” Thomas said. “It just depends on how bad he wants the money.”