Some critics of the city's proposed, fixed-route bus service would love to change its name from CityGo to CityGone.
That's not going to happen. Salina is going to have a fixed-route bus system, and that's a good thing for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it will provide those who don't or can no longer drive a way to get around.
Judging by comments from a couple of public meetings, the complaints primarily are about the bus stops. Those due to get a bus stop in front of their house are worried about lost parking, liability issues, vandalism and declining property values.
We admit that the idea of people who are waiting for the bus throwing their cigarette butts and soft drink containers on the ground doesn't appeal to us.
But the bus stops have to go somewhere, so some unlucky citizens will have to take one for greater good.
Or, will they?
They sure don't in Hutchinson, one of the towns that Salina looked to for ideas on how to configure a bus system. Hutchinson's bus line, Rcat, doesn't have bus stops.
You want to ride? No problem. Just wait some distance away from an intersection, and when the bus rolls by, just wave and you get picked up.
Can it really be that simple? It is, according to Lynn Kiker, director of the Reno County Public Transportation Department and Department of Aging.
Reno County's Rcat covers Hutchinson, South Hutchinson and Reno County. Rcat's been in service since 2000, and it's a popular one at that -- they project to have between 123,000 and 125,000 riders this year. CityGo is projected to have 60,000 riders in its first year.
But isn't it just asking for trouble to have bus drivers tooling about the county and watching out for traffic and waving would-be riders at the same time? No problem, Kiker said.
Once riders know they can depend on a bus to consistently be at the right place at the right time, then the system works smoothly, Kiker said.
"Fixed routes have been wonderful for Hutchinson," she said. "It has been such a plus for the community. It gives people more options."
It's likely that the problems of bus stops are more imagined than real. But even at that, if we don't have to have bus stops, why fight that battle?
Never make an enemy when you don't have to.
-- Ben Wearing
Executive Editor
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