I had two pleasant experiences yesterday.
At around 4pm, the San Juan Water Conservancy District board voted to approve Resolution 2021-03, declaring that SJWCD will not pursue “diligence” on the West Fork Reservoir and West Fork Canal water rights — after consultation with two other local water districts who, theoretically, could have ‘adopted’ the West Fork water rights, and could have spent their own money, out of their own budgets, in an attempt to justify those water rights in court.
The resolution was adopted unanimously by the SJWCD board. Those water rights will cease to exist, as a result.
You can download the resolution here.
As I mentioned yesterday in Part Three, the decision followed the delivery, last February, of an objective and even-handed report written by the engineers at Wilson Water Group.
Disclosure: I currently serve on the San Juan Water Conservancy District board, but this op-ed does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the SJWCD board as a whole, nor of any other SJWCD board members.
The other pleasant experience was a chat with Archuleta County Transportation Coordinator Laura Vanoni, a bit earlier in the afternoon. We met in her modest office space, upstairs in the ‘Nick’s Hanger’ building on Piedra Road.
Ms. Vanoni had agreed to discuss the 51-page Intercity Fixed-Route Feasibility Study submitted to Archuleta County earlier this month by Michael Koch of Compass Transit Consulting.
I asked Ms. Vanoni if she wanted to be interviewed… or if she preferred a more casual chat. She chose the latter option, so I won’t be quoting her, although I will share my impressions of our conversation.
As explained earlier in this editorial series, Ms. Vanoni oversees the operations of Mountain Express Transit, public buses that travel a route between the River Center at Pagosa’s east end, to the Vista mobile home park at the west end of town, ten times a day. I often see the orange-and-blue MET buses driving around town, though I’ve not yet had the opportunity to ride one, during my 27 years living in Pagosa.
I imagine most of our Daily Post readers had likewise never ridden in a MET bus?
Ms. Vanoni understands the challenges facing the MET, including a relative lack of customers, compared to public transit systems in larger, more urban settings. She also understands — or so it would seem — how to apply for and receive grants from the federal and state governments. She recently obtained a $1.9 million grant to build a new bus facility near the Sheriff’s Office in Harman Park.
And she’s been talking with the Durango transit folks about creating an “Intercity Fixed-Route” service connecting Pagosa to Durango.
When I asked her what she thought of Mr. Koch’s feasibility study, she admitted that she had questions about certain recommendations. In particular, she doubted the feasibility of running a bus to Durango that leaves downtown Pagosa at 4:55am. Who, exactly, would ride such a bus?
Prior to our meeting yesterday, I had already written my rough draft of this “Part Four” — based on the assumption that I would not be able to talk with Ms. Vanoni about the new feasibility report. I’d received no response to my request, last week, for an interview, and I’d concluded that she was hesitant to give an interview… knowing the Daily Post editor’s reputation, perhaps?
Turns out, she was out of town last week, and on Monday, she seemed more than willing to meet for a chat.
In the first draft of today’s editorial, I’d raised a few questions about the consultant’s report, including the question about a 4:55am departure schedule.
Other questions, too.
Mr. Koch’s report notes that nearly all of the funding for the existing MET service comes from the federal government. The fares collected from system users comprise a minuscule amount.
Farebox Revenue is collected from riders on the MET system that help to support operating, administrative, and capital expenses for the system. Currently farebox revenues cover approximately 4% of annual system expenses.
The remaining 96%, for operating our existing MET service, comes from federal, state, and local taxpayers who do not ride the MET buses.
There are, meanwhile, numerous grants mentioned in the report that might support a bus service to Durango and back. In particular, perhaps, money is available to fund the purchase of electric buses. As Ms. Vanoni noted during our discussion, the federal and state governments are doing their level best to convert all public transit to electric vehicles over the next decade or so.
How many people would choose to ride a bus to and from Durango, if an affordable, fixed-route bus service were available? That’s a tricky question, because… well, because no one has ever tried such a thing. Apparently, Ms. Vanoni and her bosses — the Board of County Commissioners — and the public transit folks in Durango, are willing to try the experiment. Even if it fails.
My hat is off to people who are unafraid to try something, knowing that failure is possible. But of course, we are talking about tax revenues, and taxpayer subsidies… so… well, let’s not fail too severely.
From the Compass study:
The budgets for the three options that were explored are shown in Table 10. Potential revenue was subtracted from the operating costs to show the County’s estimated cost burden. This does not include potential grant coverage (that could cover up to 80% of the remaining costs). Potential revenue was projected utilizing a fare of $.18 per mile, 61 miles between Durango and Pagosa, which would see a full rate trip of $11 per trip. With service available 5 days a week, ridership estimated at 3,198, this could potentially bring in $35,172 in revenue…
Where did Mr. Koch came up with these numbers he is tossing out?
“Ridership estimated at 3,198”.
“This could potentially bring in $35,172 in revenue.”
Indeed, if you multiply 3,198 trips by $11 each (the proposed fare for a one-way ticket to or from Durango) you get about $35,172. (Actually, you get $35,178 — but who’s counting?)
But the number I find curious is “3,198” trips, annually, on a public bus to Durango.
Who, exactly, are these people? Why are they going to Durango… on a bus? And at what time of day?