Janesville receives grant for new transit center
JANESVILLE — A new city bus garage appears to be a go now that Janesville received a $3.8 million grant from the federal government.
Dave Mumma, transit director, announced the grant at Monday's city council meeting.
The city has been working to raise money for a new building since at least 2005.
The city in 2007 bought 5.4 acres of land for the new garage at the corner of Black Bridge Road and Highway 51 at a cost of $350,000. At the time, the city estimated a new garage would cost between $5 million and $6 million.
Janesville needs a new bus garage because the one at 900 N. Parker Drive is worn-out and too small, city officials have said.
The latest cost estimate for a new building is about $7.65 million, Mumma said.
The city also received about $1.4 million in stimulus money in 2009. The remaining funds will come from local money and other federal grants the city has received in past years, Mumma said.
"It's something that a lot of people in the administration and that members of the community had put in time over the last several years," Mumma told council members.
"It's gratifying that it now appears we have the financial ability to go forward with this project."
OTHER BUSINESS
The Janesville City Council on Monday:
-- Heard a report from Tom Presny, parks director, on the emerald ash borer, which was recently discovered here and kills ash trees unless the trees are treated. Cost of treatment ranges from $75 to $200 depending on the size of the tree, and treatment must be conducted at least every other year.
The city council will have some big issues to discuss in the future, including whether to budget money to employ a city forester or contract with tree companies to remove and plant trees. The council must also decide whether to force homeowners with ash trees on city-owned terraces to remove the trees at their own expense.
The city must be forward thinking and work with homeowners to diversify the city's tree stock, Presny said. Many ashes were planted after Dutch elm disease decimated the city's elm trees.
-- OK'd a settlement of $100,100 to the widow of John Somerville, a parks employee who suffered a fatal heart attack while on the job in 2009. Somerville's wife filed for workers' compensation claiming her husband's death was employment-related, and she asked for the maximum allowed of $232,950. The city is self-insured through Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance, which denied the claim.
Somerville's wife appealed to the state. This settles the claim.
-- Agreed to build more than another mile of sidewalk recommended by the city's sidewalk committee and end the 2012 program.
The council allowed a maximum of a three-year delay for a segment of sidewalk along Wright Road.
The sidewalk committee had simply recommended the sidewalk be delayed until the segment was developed. The committee will continue to meet to make recommendations about the remaining five years of the program.
-- Allowed the Rock Aqua Jays to sell advertising to put on the bleachers in Traxler Park.
Jul 26, 2012 at 10 a.m.
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"-- minors, the elderly, the disabled, those without a car or driver's license."
lol/ w/o a DL- do you ever see how many in papaer for driving w/o license. Maybe they don't know about the bus. I saw impound their car until they are allowed to drive again.
Jul 25, 2012 at 10:03 p.m.
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What a coincidence, GoodAmerican. I had the same impression of you.
Jul 25, 2012 at 4:49 p.m.
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I also tried the bus not long ago. There were 4 of us on the way to the transfer center (My destination was a block from there), and 2 on the way back counting myself. That left about 25 empty seats each time. A mini van getting 4 times the MPG's and costing 1/5th as much as a bus would have done the job nicely. And I'll bet the bus system's current maintenance facility is more than adequate for mini van maintenance for the next 30 years or so.
Jul 25, 2012 at 12:55 p.m.
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Is that land where they want to build this smaller than what there on now
Jul 25, 2012 at 12:41 p.m.
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Yet more wasteful spending of tax payers money. The only way a building can be worn out is from the lack of maintainance which itself a larger waste of tax payers money!
Jul 25, 2012 at 11:07 a.m.
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Let me get this straight... the city will spend millions on a bus terminal -- but denied to pay the benefits owed to a widow when her husband died on the job and negotiated that benefit down....
Jul 25, 2012 at 10:34 a.m.
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Thank you, JohnWicket, for your comment.
Jul 25, 2012 at 9:18 a.m.
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If the storage facility is worn out and too "small" for the MegaBus fleet maybe we should scale down bus sizes. Perhaps, a smaller more environmentally - friendly bus would serve our needs as a community. We would have to hire more drivers and put more people to work though. More small buses could run during high demand hours. But let's ignore common sense and keep the empty MegaBus fleet cruising the streets looking for mythical workers to haul to an imaginary job somewhere, perhaps at a big box store. That store needs the business and transportation for its underpaid employees. Are you, like others, looking for a bus out of Janesville?
Jul 25, 2012 at 9:15 a.m.
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I doubt the people will have any say in this. This seems to be a subject that everyone feels the same on. Someone has their eyes on that $7.65 million contract and the ball is rolling. When we speak of needs, the only need is the one needing that building contract. Never get in the way or politicians and money...you'll get ran right over.
Jul 25, 2012 at 8:46 a.m.
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OK, if the function of government is to provide services without regard to producing enough income to cover its costs, why does the bus system charge a fare at all? Conversely, the city seems to insist on the water system charging enough for that system to meet it's expenses every year. Water is much more important that transportation, yet I don't see any willingness to allow the water utility to run in the red, or to build water system infrastructure without an associated increase in water income. The fact is that of all the things the city provides, the bus system is the least necessarily, most esoteric of its services. It serves a small fraction of the city's residents at a rather large subsidy. It would probably be cheaper for the city to hire a cab for every bus rider rather than run a fleet of pollution belching buses that are frequently vacant roving edifices of governmental waste.
Jul 25, 2012 at 6:50 a.m.
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Besides, I really don't think you care one whit about fuel efficiency; you're just using that as a wedge issue. Suck eggs on that one. I know how you work -- you bait and dodge.
Thanks for the "civil" discussion. This is an example of why things can not get done. I tried to comment on other ideas, but you take it and turn it into something else.
Does anyone at the city level ever think of ways to save money, or at the very least...get the most out of the "free money"?
Shame on you.
Jul 25, 2012 at 6:20 a.m.
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A taxi service would be better, and then the schools can contract busses like every other school district. Public transportation shouldnt be used. Down size our fleet of monster busses and take care of the building we have....its worked this long.
Jul 25, 2012 at 12:22 a.m.
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Velheim, you do realize these are transit funds, right? Janesville doesn't have the option to get a grant for transit improvements and then spend it on something else. This is money that Congress allocated for cities to improve their transit systems, period.
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wislady, it's impossible to have optimal fuel efficiency when the object of the service is to reach all parts of the city. This isn't about people replacing their cars with the bus, it's about people who DO NOT HAVE cars. Besides, I really don't think you care one whit about fuel efficiency; you're just using that as a wedge issue. Suck eggs on that one. I know how you work -- you bait and dodge.
Jul 24, 2012 at 10:35 p.m.
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There is MUCH better things this city could be doing with 3.8 Million dollars.
Janesville, please pull your head out.
Jul 24, 2012 at 10:27 p.m.
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wislady- Its the same thing in city after city..Its a 1970's communist country scenario(Russia?)
Entrenched and not likely to change.
Jul 24, 2012 at 9:10 p.m.
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Explain how running around town in a huge bus, with hardly any riders, is fuel efficient?
How about thinking outside of the box. There must be a use for some vans or smaller buses for areas with low ridership. No one has any ideas for any fuel conserving measures?
Jul 24, 2012 at 7 p.m.
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wislady, I'm not sure why so many of you transit critics have the idea that smaller buses would make a huge difference in overall costs, but trust me, they would not. The standard bus size is what it is across multiple manufacturers.
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The costs, of course, are not just for a "building" but for a complex, state-of-the-art facility including maintenance bays, refueling, and other functions requiring advanced equipment.
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billnewbie, the function of government is to provide services, not to make money. I'm sorry to say that in the real world, services actually cost money and that's just the way it is. Perhaps in your delusional world there are opportunities for the government to become a predatory investor and actually make money to put back in your pocket, but I believe those times were called the Middle Ages.
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The bus is the only means of transportation for many members of our community -- minors, the elderly, the disabled, those without a car or driver's license. The bus system exists so that those people can go about their daily activities, including working at jobs, and keep Janesville's economy humming. Without the bus system, it's possible a number of employers would have no choice but to relocate to a community willing to support their needs.
Jul 24, 2012 at 5:56 p.m.
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lol- I remember this guy chasing the bus around in his little car so he could toss students off the bus.
Jul 24, 2012 at 5:45 p.m.
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The bus lines are underused and the cost of a ride is overpriced. Janesville would be better served investing its money in something that will pay a return or increase the city's value, rather than throwing more money down that fiscal black hole that is our bus system. No matter how nice and big a bus garage we build, it won't increase the bus lines' revenue, nor will it lower expenses enough for the system to just break even let alone turn a profit. Not even close.
Jul 24, 2012 at 4:56 p.m.
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Buses are like freeways. Busy during peak times when people are going to/from work.
The existing garage was old twenty years ago.
It is time to move the garage closer to the rest of where city services are and free up the land on Parker Drive for additional development.
Jul 24, 2012 at 4:39 p.m.
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If the city would get rid of some of the large buses and get a few smaller ones, the garage wouldn't be "too small". The buses run around the city all day, with few riders.
Jul 24, 2012 at 4:34 p.m.
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How can the old build the "worn out"? lol..that cracks me up, it cant be that old. A lot of people have houses that are old, a lot older. They too would be "worn out" if they didnt keep them up.
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How is the current garage "too small"? I thought the JTS was underfunded and underused?
I think there is a lot of info left out of this article.
Jul 24, 2012 at 4:28 p.m.
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The Janesville buses I see are usually empty. What is the ridership?
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