City Council will review bus fares, eatery idea turned car shop

Six months after hiking the price for a single Citibus fare, the City Council will review a proposal Monday night that offers riders a discount on one-way fares.

Citibus leadership is proposing that riders be given the option of purchasing a $40 pass that allows riders to hop on the bus an unlimited amount of times each month. At the end of the month, riders must purchase a new pass. At $1.50 per trip, that means riders will need to take the bus about 27 times each month before they start feeling the discount take effect.

Current Citibus charges are as follows:

• One-way regular bus fare: $1.50
• One-way regular fare transfer: no charge
• Discount booklet for 10 one-way fares: $10.00
• Discount booklet for 20 one-way fares: $20.00
• One-way ADA paratransit fare: $3.00
• Children's fare, ages 6 to 12: $.50

Through the end of October, the city has collected $53,530 in fares, compared to $39,789 last year, meaning the city is on pace to collect $160,600 for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Raising Citibus fares was one of the many rate increases the city hit residents with in July as a way to increase revenues. The Citibus changes, however, were easily the change felt by the most people. The city estimates that about 58,000 fares are sold annually. That's a large cross section of constituents considering 27,000 people reside in the city. The fare increases were expected to produce an additional $28,800.

Also on the council's agenda for Monday is the special use permit proposed for 804 State St.

The property's owner, Mark Bonner, would like to open a car sales and detail shop on the location. This is more than a year after he claimed he was talking with franchise restaurants, including Tim Hortons, for the site. Taking into account that the council sold the property to Mr. Bonner in a split vote last year, and the speculation about prospective eateries that might occupy the site, discussion about this permit should be interesting.

The council will also likely appoint 11 people to various boards associated with the city and Flower Memorial Library. While there are some newcomers volunteering for these positions, most of these are reappointments.