The Crittenden Automotive Library

Township buses - a deal? for whom?

Township buses - a deal? for whom?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
March 19, 2010

There is a good story right now on First Electric Newspaper, written by Pete Gonigam. He writes about the Village of Huntley and the Grafton Township bus, pictured to the right. You can read the whole story at www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/

But here's my question. Why are the townships in the bus business, when there are plenty of taxi cabs in McHenry County hungry for fares?

Fares in Grafton Township are $1-3 dollars, while "Grafton Township figured each one (ride) cost about $20 a pop." Or $20 a mom.

So Grafton Township is subsidizing each ride to the tune of $17.00. That's crazy.

If taxi drivers had plenty of business, they could drop their rates substantially. Suppose Grafton Township issued vouchers to seniors and other non-drivers, rather than owning an expensive bus, buying gas, oil, repairs, maintenance and insurance, and paying drivers.

The townships (and the County) need to stop providing individualized personal chauffer service. Even the PACE buses run empty too much of the time. That's because they don't go where passengers want to go, when passengers want to go. Duhhh.....

What a novel idea...