Bloomington Transit gets state funding increase

Bloomington Transit and Rural Transit mass transportation services will soon see a funding increase of approximately 20 percent after the approval of a state sales tax initiative.\nThe Indiana Transportation Association passed an increase in state funding for public transit operators on April 29.\nKent McDaniel, the executive director of the Indiana Transportation Association, said the increase will affect Bloomington Transit and Rural Transit, but not the IU Campus Bus Service. \n“The IU Campus Bus Service gets no federal, state or local funding,” McDaniel said. \nMcDaniel said he hopes the extra funding will go toward a number of things such as later and more frequent bus service. McDaniel added that the funding might go towards excessive fuel cost and health care for employees.\n“We’re not sure exactly what the extra funding will go to,” McDaniel said. \nAccording to McDaniel, the increase in funding comes from sales tax revenue that goes to the Public Mass Transportation Fund. The sales tax revenue increased from 0.635 percent to 0.76 percent. \nCompetition for funds between transit systems is based on performance indicators such as number of passengers, total vehicle miles and locally derived income. \nJewel Echelbarger, an executive director of Rural Transit, explained that the increase in funding does not mean Rural Transit gets the money directly. \n“The money goes towards expenses,” Echelbarger said. “We need it but we can hardly argue with that.” \nEchelbarger said Rural Transit links public transportation between Lawrence, Owen and Monroe counties. \n“The goal is to maximize transportation for people,” Echelbarger said. “It helps people to go out, get what they need and go back home.” \nLew May, Bloomington Transit general manager, said the increase in percentage of sales tax revenue that goes towards the Public Mass Transit Fund will be effective January 1, 2008.\nMay added that, since the cost of gasoline has increased, the dependency of public transportation has increased. He hopes the extra funding will further enhance their transit service.\n“Hopefully it will generate thousands of extra dollars for Bloomington Transit,” May said. “We can use that to improve (our) transit service.” \nMcDaniel said the increase in funding is an important step, because the Indiana Transportation Association has been trying for years to get more numbers in public transportation. \n“We’ve had enormous growth (in usage) in rural areas around the state,” McDaniel said.