I’ve read some of the letters and statements in the paper about the loss of the millage in Addison Township that would have supported the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA).
All have seemed to be concerned that the people who voted down the millage did not care for the needs of residents who were not able to provide their own form of transportation. I want to make it clear that there is another perspective that this can be seen from.
When I read that the millage was intended to provide $70,000 to cover Addison’s portion and that last year NOTA had provided just under 2,200 (I think it was 2, 189 ) rides to residents here my first thought was, ‘How much per ride??
According to my calculator it is almost $32 per ride. I wondered if that was one way or round trip as that would affect the value received.
On the day of the election, I had the opportunity to meet a gentleman who worked for NOTA and said that he was the operations manager. I asked him if the number of rides represented one-way rides or roundtrip. His answer was that the rides were one way.
I don’t know if there is any amount of money that Addison is paying currently, but if there is that would have to be added to the amount per ride.
I told him that we believed people do need help and should be helped and believed it strongly enough that we had been picking up and transporting an elderly lady who wasn’t able to drive for the past three years until she had been moved to an assisted living facility so we were not opposed to helping but at what cost. He countered that it was cheaper than a taxi service and even then there were none available.
I have a difficult time believing that if one of the people who are using the service thought that when they would like to travel from Leonard to the senior center in Lakeville two miles away and home a few hours later that it is going to cost someone $64, or to go to Meijer in Oxford to buy a few groceries or pick up a prescription that it will cost one of their neighbors $64.
Most of the seniors that I have known are very conservative when it comes to spending and want fair value for what they get.
I think that to do something that is worthwhile is great, but if it is at a cost that is not rational it cannot be done long term or sustained, could this be looked at again thinking outside of the way that is has been done in the past?
Maybe instead of treating it like a free taxi service, make it more like a bus service with a scheduled run in the morning and another in the afternoon or every other day.
Where the riders who use the service would have to plan around the ride schedule, not just call whenever a ride is needed.
I have the ability to provide my own rides but I do not run to the store if I only have one reason to go.
Living in Addison Township everything is too far away to not plan your trips, is it unfair to expect users of this service to not live with the same things that the rest of the residents have to?
If there can be some other way of doing this than to just do the same thing that has been in the past, I would reconsider my voting against this millage.
Bob James
Addison Township