You do realize that the Buses you named D, T, B & F do NOT go near St. Augustine and it looks like they are mainly for the Down Town / Mid Town areas. SO, your response does not help with what I posted but proves it.

lolol you think those neighborhoods provide enough of a tax base to cover the cost of their infrastructure upkeep. that is hilarious. they’re subsidized by the very neighborhoods you’re talking down upon. you should learn more about how cities work before commenting on them.

Excellent point about the disconnect, Mr. E.
If there are no buses to inside the Killearn Estates/Lakes/Acres or Golden Eagle neighborhoods, the city’s portion of their property taxes should be lowered. And for those property owners along bus routes, raise their property taxes to pay for the service.

2. [John]: The point of the 30 day feedback period is so people like you can have input. That being said, you’re suggesting subsidized ride-sharing services? How do you propose we cover the costs per-ride? How do you assess the liabilities? We prepared for a City-Uber union who’d likely demand personnel services like other city employees? There’s currently a “van” service provided by StarMetro (Dial-A-Ride) for curbside assistance, though, twice as expensive as a bus fare ($2.50) due to inconsistent routes at the benefit of avoiding transfers & fewer stops. Personnel services are a majority of the StarMetro budget. One bus driver for say 10 people, or 10 Uber drivers at $10 a pop? Sounds to me like a lazy man’s alternative to not have to walk 10 minutes to a bus stop & arrive on time.

3. [Do the Math]: Cab meters start at $2.50. It’s $25 for me to take a cab to the airport from Midtown. We’re going to be subsidizing this on an individualized ride-by-ride basis? Uber rides for me getting around town from Midtown are on average $10-11 each, to get to Bradfordville it’s more often than not over $40 ONE WAY. The bus is $1.25/ride including a transfer or $38/month (which is actually significantly cheaper than not having a monthly pass). Dream on with that tax increase! Not to mention it’s counter to the point of MASS transit by incentivizing more vehicles on the roads, increasing traffic congestion & contributing to the downgrade of our air quality. Again, how does a subsidized payroll of ten individual Uber rides make more fiscal sense than a payroll for one bus that drives ten people?

4. [News Maven]: Absolutely on point. A route to TLH is needed, though it would have to be optimized to coordinate with flight schedules for it to be viable. I would even venture to suggest working on a regional system working with neighboring counties to provide services with fewer stops. It would be beneficial for the local economies to provide a cheaper alternative to driving to & from town. There are many people in outlying counties who have court cases in Tallahassee they’re unable to attend due to lack of transportation. This alone would free a lot of time & tax dollars, as cases aren’t prolonged due to a failure to appear. It would also provide for a greater connection of our people. What I envision is something akin to Peter Pan in New England. We can utilize the city’s placemaking strategies as stops connecting at Steele:
– Gadsden (Ochlockonee, Midway, Quincy, Gretna, Chattahoochee)
– Decatur (Huntington, Havana, Attapulgus, Bainbridge)
– Thomas[/Lowndes] (Market Square, Bradfordville, Thomasville, [Quitman, Valdosta])
– Taylor (Buck Lake, Monticello, Lamont, Perry)
– Franklin[/Gulf] (West Woodville, Crawfordville, Sopchoppy, Carabelle, Eastpoint[/Apalachicola, Port St. Joe])

5. [Mr. Entropy]: Routes could certainly be improved upon, though you forget the customer pays a fare; it’s not a free service. Less than 1% of our property value is taxed in Leon County. 2.4% of our local taxes cover operational costs for StarMetro, of which 41% operational cost is funded. Where shall we make up for the loss of $6.6 million annual revenue from fares IN ADDITION TO spending more money for these Uber fare subsidies? I’m curious what y’all are thinking with all this proposed spending while you complain about tax rates being too high. This mentality is exactly why our state government is $129B in debt with a $30B deficit. Privatization cost us more money. They’re trying to operate for a profit, whereas a state-run service is not operating for a profit unless there’s a budget surplus. The 2016 budget has us spending $2,000 per capita more than we give in taxes. As a collective, we each owe $6k per capita in order to get out of debt. Why do people insist on outsourcing with government contracts? Do we want our local governments operating like the military industrial complex, giving away tax dollars to companies that undervalue their true costs? Our city budget breaks even, & our millage rate is lower than most major cities in Florida. Is it really worth the complaint?

6. [Tommy]: Agreed. Most of the operating costs for the StarMetro fleet goes toward personnel services. These peoples’ proposals serve to expand the employee base pool in favor for a far more expensive alternative, offering no tangible solutions that the current ridership would serve to benefit. The fact the people who don’t use the bus think they understand the priorities to address customer service & wait times is a bit of a joke, considering they’re not even a customer. By switching to an all-electric fleet, we could allocate an extra $6M a year for other projects, but we must first pay for these buses & we’ll need a LOT of them. I also suggest a marquee at Steele Plaza which tells you which gate to go to & any route changes.

A bus ticket cost $1.25. A taxi or Uber will run you over $15.00 just to go around the block. Car people don’t have a clue what alternate transportation cost.