Discovering Transit in Montana

Last night, the final public comment period was held for the Five Valleys Transit Study, and it was an all-too-typical format.  The audience was talked at for an hour, and in the end, questions, comments, and suggestions were diffused by citing national statistics and “because-I-said-so” reasons.

The study, in conjuntion with the US-93 corridor study that is going on simultanously, cost somewhere between $400,000-$600,000, and the end result was (paraphrased): ‘Demand exists to run a bus and a few more vanpools to and from the Bitterroot, but there isn’t any money to do so.’  Two things we already knew through common sense!

Here’s a suggested better use of $400,000-$600,000: put commuter bus service from Hamilton to Missoula on the ground for two years, promote it like hell, and figure out how to sustain it (tax district, local-option gas tax, etc). 

In transportation planning, many planning processes leave much to be desired.  The saying goes that there is DEAD planning and LIVE planning.  (DEAD =  Decide, Engineer, Advocate, Defend or LIVE - Listen, Investigate, Verify, Educate) 

It looks like we’re at another impasse: the study is over and we still can’t afford what we knew we needed all along.