Cost analysis

Via Flagpole ...

And he suggested cutting out one of the county’s two “Link” vans, which offer on-demand service to areas off regular routes. It costs the county over $20 a trip, and “it’s just a small handful of people that ride it,” he said. “You can send a cab out cheaper,” added ACC Manager Alan Reddish, and “we have some very difficult budget issues for next year.”

But citizens in the westside Stonehenge neighborhood “really do want” Link service, Commissioner Ed Robinson countered; the issue is part of the legacy of racism in Athens, he added. In the 1960s and ’70s, “we did go to some of our African-American communities and basically steal their property for free, and tear it down,” Robinson said, for projects like UGA dorms, “and then relocate them out to the county line.”

While I'm completely sympathetic to the countless injustices that have been dealt out over the year to the African-American community in Athens-Clarke County, I'm also aware of the actual stastical data which shows that 'The Link' is not a viable transporation option for the westside. Given the challenges of our budget, it's more than worthwhile to explore all sorts of ways to offset costs, and this seems like a necessary, albeit unfortunate, one.

Granted, there are numerous other ways to approach our transportation challenges - regional light rail anyone? - and it's high time we start aggressively making the course for just that type of interconnected system.