Meetings Steering Committee(Folders 1-2)

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Even if one assumes that two-thirds of these 400-600 riders could access their destination while they circulate through downtown on the way to the PGE site, there would remain between 130 and 200 people on many pulses looking for shuttle service to their downtown/mall destination. The attached data page shows the cost of providing sufficient buses to secve this need. On an annual basis, the operating cost would be in the range of $550,000 to $840,000. Upfront capital costs for added buses would be $1,000,000 to $1,400,000, with an annual depreciation cost of $80,000 to $115,000. PASSENGER INCONVENIENCE The high dollar cost to the public for operating out of the PGE site does not purchase any gain for the Cheniot system or its riders. There is no trip atn•action at the location. While downtown is moving northward with time, we are certainly looking at decades passing before the site would be considered even tangential to any major locus of amactions, and it will always remain distant from the major employment centers of the capital mall. This separation sets up the need for substantial numbers of persons to transfer from one bus to another bus to complete their h-ip. It is common knowledge within the transit indushy that transfers are perceived as one of the primary disincentives to the use of public transit. This is particularly hue if there is a wait involved, as there would be in the PGE case, as all 18 routes would need to arrive and persons debark and load onto shuttles. Transit riders are destined for downtown and the mall. That is where they want to go. They are employees and shoppers and patrons of downtown activities. Dislocating them from their destination and requiring a shuttle bus fleet, and trip, to get where they wish to go makes no more sense than locating the next downtown parking garage at PGE and incurring the inconvenience and cost of shuttling auto riders to their downtown destinations. CONCLUSIONS The District Board and staff can't escape the conclusion that the selection of the PGE site, or any similarly removed location, would have the effect of greatly escalating the operating costs of public transit in Salem, would require a significant tax increase on local citizens, and would detract from the convenience of the system for its riders. A transit tax increase on local property tax payers of 25% to 40% would be needed solely to pay for the additional operating costs -- needless costs -- of a poorly chosen location. This type of government inefficiency, it seems to the Transit Dishict, is at the heart of community distrust and lack of confidence in public services. The District will not select a transfer center location which is not cost-efficient and plainly convenient in its access to the downtown/capital mall core.