Letters for Monday, Sept. 15

Time to phase out big buses

We’ve all heard talk about “fraud, waste and abuse” related to government spending and mismanagement of funds by government agencies. One example of government waste takes place daily right here in Spokane in the form of huge buses driving their routes nearly empty. The Spokane Transit Authority has been very proud of their big, new electric buses we see all over town. Now, they are bragging about their latest purchase of double decker buses that will soon be joining their fleet of oversized buses running well below capacity.

Couldn’t the STA gather data to tell them how many passengers are riding STA buses between major stops on different days of the week, different times of the day, weekdays, weekends and holidays, for each route served by STA. By using high averages, low averages and mean averages of ridership numbers the STA should be able to continue to provide their much-needed services but with smaller, more economic, nonconventional handy vans, mini vans or just buses less than half the size of the ten-wheeled dinosaurs currently operating well below their capacity. Keep using the big buses on routes and at times when they are needed but send out the small ones when ridership is predicted to be light. And, in addition to the savings in purchase price and operating costs, the smaller vehicles would be much easier for drivers to maneuver in city traffic.

Paul Luppert

Spokane