The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

May 5, 2009

Transit is focus

Sibley County eyeing transportation bill

By Mark Fischenich

The transportation funding bill headed to the governor’s desk covers $4.3 billion in spending on everything from highway construction to state troopers, but it’s about $150,000 in emergency transit funding that’s key for thousands of bus riders in Sibley County.

“The transit systems, especially Trailblazer, we’re in some dire straits because of administrative red tape,” said Gary Ludwig, director of the Trailblazer transit system in Sibley and McLeod counties.

The red tape involves state and federal funding rules that delay payments — sometimes for months — until long after the bills come due for fuel, rent and payroll for bus drivers.

“The bulk of what we get for our budgets comes long after the money has been spent,” Ludwig said.

The counties have helped cover the perennial gap in cash that occurs each spring and early summer as the transit systems await their large July payments from the state, Ludwig said. But demand for transit services has caused ridership to grow dramatically, along with the need for cash-flow help, and that’s become a burden on already stressed county budgets, he said.

“It’s such a huge amount that counties are saying, just wait a minute,” he said.

If Gov. Tim Pawlenty signs the transportation funding bill, about $2.5 million will be divided among 22 rural transit systems. State Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, worked to get that much in emergency additional payments to those systems, which were identified by the Minnesota Department of Transportation as being in a crisis situation.

Morrow, who served on the conference committee that reconciled House and Senate transportation bills, said the compromise bill also evens out the payment schedule in future years.

Ludwig applauded Morrow’s efforts, saying the transit systems mean a great deal to the people who use them. Trailblazer provided 114,955 rides in Sibley and McLeod counties in 2008, up from 69,140 five years earlier.

While the system provides an important service to the elderly, 45 percent of the ridership is in the 18-to-59 age group, he said. Trailblazer provides social opportunities such as shopping and restaurant trips, but many rides are to jobs, medical appointments and day-care services — both for adults and children.

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