I'm tardy in reporting the significant action the PART board took at its December 14 meeting by officially approving the collection of a 5% tax on rental cars in Surry County at the unanimous request by the Surry County Commissioners. That tax will become effective on April 1, 2006 and will enable PART to offer eight round trips per day from Mt. Airy and Pilot Mountain to Winston-Salem by September. Forsyth and Guilford counties have been collecting that same tax for the past three years to fund the PART Express service.
Costs of providing this express bus service will be covered by the tax proceeds (estimated at $50,000/year), fares (estimated at $100,000/year), and a $250,000 per year grant from the NC Department of Transportation to replace the loss of Greyhound intercity bus service to this area. PART Executive Director Brent McKinney expects the service to be fully utilized by the large number of workers from Surry County (and Virginia) who are already commuting to work at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
The board also approved a contract with the Forsyth County Environmental Affairs Department to provide the air quality monitoring information essential to the region's transportation computer modeling that is required for all transportation projects.
The Long Range Finance Committee recommended that additional board members be added to the committee so that each county and city represented on the board would have a participant on the committee. Since most or all of any future additional revenues are likely to be in the form of one tax or another that these local governments would have to approve, it is important that their viewpoints and concerns are included in the discussions and those ultimate recommendations.
The full board approved the committee's request that PART conduct a Bus Efficiency Study to explore the financial implications of potentially merging Greensboro GTA, High Point Hi-Tran, Winston-Salem WSTA and PART into one region-wide bus system. There are possible operational savings as well as the ability to access additional state and federal funding for a larger, merged system. (And it could be even larger - the town of Elon is considering offering bus service to take advantage of federal transit dollars is currently losing due to the lack of a transit system in Alamance County.) Area transportation officials and members of the authorities operating the current separate systems will be called together to investigate the pros and cons of such a move.
Our next meeting will be on January 11.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
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8 comments:
I have recently returned to my residence after visiting family outside of the immediate area. However, this is excellent news and I'm proud of your efforts on behalf of not only your constituents in Guilford County but throughout northwestern North Carolina and southwestern Virginia as a collective entity.
Throughout the past year, it has been a pleasure to review your weblog and rely upon the convenience of information that you provide on a regular basis for the review of your loyal constituents. You are a testament to the manner in which every public official should represent his or her constituency, Ms. Carmany.
Thus, I would like to wish you a remarkably prosperous New Year in 2006.
Post-Script: Incidentally, no offense intended, but I hope that the University of South Florida defeats North Carolina State University during the 2005 Meineke Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday, December 31. Having matriculated at South Florida, my institutional affinity is rather tainted, mind you. In addition, my sister, like you, is an alumna of NCSU. Go Bulls. ;-)
Thanks for the kind words - providing information to citizens is the whole purpose of this blog. I'm glad you find it useful.
Of course, we do disagree on the hopeful outcome at the Meineke Bowl -- GO PACK!!!!
Hopefully, the Wolfpack defense will remain porous in Saturday's bowl appearance, insofar as to allow South Florida offensive juggernauts to find creases and open holes in the offensive line en route to Bulls touchdowns. Of course, defending NCSU's Toney Baker and Art Brown could prove to be difficult challenges for South Florida as well.
Nevertheless, you're welcome for the compliments. I think that you're providing a wonderful public service to the constituency that you represent on the City Council. Keep up the excellent work in the New Year.
With the emphasis on Alamance County, Guilford County, Surry County and even portions of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I think that you would make an excellent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Of course, I also recall an exchange on your weblog in which you had espoused the notion that your political aspirations do not extend beyond the boundaries of Guilford County.
Hopefully, you will reconsider your position regarding political aspirations and seek to utilize your uncanny leadership aptitude to serve the region's interests.
You are a treasured gem on the political landscape of North Carolina.
Thanks for the compliments and encouragement! But you're right, I'm inclined to stay "home" and serve.
That Wolfpack defense looked pretty solid to me, shutting out South Florida for their only time this year! YEAH, PACK!
Clearly, the coaching administration of the Wolfpack football program needs to be independently investigated by "special counsel" at the NCAA for alleged cheating practices. I think that the NCSU coaching staff was observed in the week capitulating with the Meineke Bowl copying images and text from Coach Leavitt's playbook in Tampa. One might surmise that we have another "WolfpackGate" scandal brewing in Raleigh. ;-)
On a serious note, congratulations to the Wolfpack.
Chuck Amato even beat Leavitt in the NASCAR "tire changing" competition before the bowl game. He did it as the result of the same method that won the game for them -- pre-game preparation!
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