2 articles appeared on the top of the front page of today's Democrat. I have pasted in the complete text, along with the comments posted as of noon, below: Miccosukee Hills residents fight for bus service 8:09 AM, Jul. 29, 2011 By TaMaryn Waters Nearly 40 residents in Miccosukee Hills pleaded for bus service to resume in the subdivision populated with seniors and residents living with disabilities. The subdivision has been cut off from general service for two weeks after StarMetro launched its new citywide system. Bus riders at the subdivision say they can't trek the hilly entrance road to access a bus stop on Miccosukee Road, which has no sidewalks in the area. Philip Gregory, a 64-year-old resident of Miccosukee Hills for a year and a half, said he doesn't want to see StarMetro make "knee-jerk reactions" based on finances since staffers say serving the subdivision would be costly if a bus came through in the new system. "The majority of these people are 75-, 85- and 90-year-old people, and I'm going to be there very quickly," Gregory said. "We can lose our eyesight. We can lose our hearing. We can loose our teeth. We can lose a lot of things. But when we lose our mobility, that's when the quality of life drops significantly." Several solutions were presented by StarMetro staffers, who have been working with residents on the issue well before the launch. StarMetro Executive Director Ron Garrison said it would cost an estimated $180,000 per year to serve the subdivision with a regular-size bus, which is too costly to justify the number of riders at the subdivision. He said he has to consider ridership, budget restraints and physical challenges with the condition of the subdivision's roads. Garrison is leaning toward an option that would work like a fixed route using a smaller vehicle, such as a Dial-A-Ride van. He's hoping to have a possible solution to share by a follow-up meeting scheduled for Aug. 18. In the past two weeks, Miccosukee Hills riders who would normally ride the bus could still get access to Dial-A-Ride at $2.50 per trip. Residents who are qualified to be considered "transportationally disadvantaged" could ride the Community Transportation Coordination (CTC) for medical appointments for $2.50 per trip. That service is free to Medicaid recipients, Garrison said. (Page 2 of 2) "If I can, by using technology, rearrange the other trips on a Dial-A-Ride van to fit this in," Garrison said, referring to the subdivision, "it would be at a minimum cost." Carol Worthham, 89, a Miccosukee Hills resident for 17 years, said residents are willing to compromise with StarMetro. Worthham said residents would be willing to live with bus service in the morning, afternoon and evening. "That will take care of us. Please, give it to us," Worthham said, standing in front of the audience while looking Garrison in the eyes. Garrison tried to comfort audience members, some of whom made no attempts to hide their frustrations. "My heart wants to do the right thing here," he said. "I would not be in this business if I didn't care ... I'm in this business because we want to make a difference." Tallahassee City Commissioner Nancy Miller listened to the concerns and felt strongly that bus service needs to be restored. She said residents at Miccosukee Hills are the very ones the bus system was designed to serve. "I understand that the ridership was low over here, but I think we can expect ridership to increase if we solve this problem," Miller said. "I feel we have got to run some routes through here somehow." "If I can, by using technology, rearrange the other trips on a Dial-A-Ride van to fit this in," Garrison said, referring to the subdivision, "it would be at a minimum cost." Carol Worthham, 89, a Miccosukee Hills resident for 17 years, said residents are willing to compromise with StarMetro. Worthham said residents would be willing to live with bus service in the morning, afternoon and evening. "That will take care of us. Please, give it to us," Worthham said, standing in front of the audience while looking Garrison in the eyes. Garrison tried to comfort audience members, some of whom made no attempts to hide their frustrations. "My heart wants to do the right thing here," he said. "I would not be in this business if I didn't care ... I'm in this business because we want to make a difference." Tallahassee City Commissioner Nancy Miller listened to the concerns and felt strongly that bus service needs to be restored. She said residents at Miccosukee Hills are the very ones the bus system was designed to serve. "I understand that the ridership was low over here, but I think we can expect ridership to increase if we solve this problem," Miller said. "I feel we have got to run some routes through here somehow." 4 comments 1) squareman 6:34 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment has been removed from our system. This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore squareman. Show DetailsHide Details If Ron Garrison cares so much, why wasn't this issue addressed before the new system was put in place? Many Miccosukee Hills residents complained loudly at the so called "listening sessions" but their pleas were ignored. 2) tallylad 6:40 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore tallylad. Show DetailsHide Details Articles on this concern have not really indicated why there was a change. This article indicates that "regular buses" can't navigate the roads within the Miccosukee Hills subdivision. Well, what type of bus was used before? 3) redhot47fl 8:06 AM on July 29, 2011 tallylad: Good point, and here's the answer (which should have been made clear by the article, but was not). Before the change, 12 or 13 regular StarMetro buses looped through the community each day as part of their normal runs up and down Miccosukee Road. After the change, those buses still rolled up and down Miccosukee Road, but none were allowed to loop through the community. So, these elderly and/or infirm people went overnight from 12 or 13 buses a day to none. Again, these were regular StarMetro buses that served the community and the condition of the roads in the Miccosukee Hills subdivision had never been an issue during the 30 years that residents had access to city-provided bus service. Suddenly, in playing defense, Garrison has made that an issue. All the residents want is the restoration of a few - not all - of those scheduled trips each day. Also, it is simply not possible that this would cost $180,000 a year. Again, to be clear, they are not asking for a new route - only the restoration of a short, quick loop of an existing route. 4) squareman 8:07 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment has been removed from our system. This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore squareman. Show DetailsHide Details The change was made because of the budget cut that StarMetro tried to pass off as new and improved bus service. The city commission and StarMetro were told early on that the Nova 2010 plan would disenfranchise the poor, the elderly and the disabled and that is precisely what it has done =================== StarMetro makes route changes 11:44 PM, Jul. 28, 2011 By TaMaryn Waters With roughly two weeks into a new system, StarMetro already is making changes to several routes and offering free-ride coupons when buses are late. StarMetro launched a new bus system — the largest change in Tallahassee's history — July 11 and that change made the C.K. Steele Plaza one of many transfer points in the system instead of the only one. Routes also were revamped to allow buses to operate on peak and off-peak times. While StarMetro coordinated volunteer ambassadors on buses to help riders and beefed up help on its hot line, some riders voiced concerns, including late buses. The "Five or Free" program, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 12, will allow riders to get a free round-trip ride coupon when a bus is more than five minutes late. Coupons will be good for six months, said StarMetro's Executive Director Ron Garrison. Gregory Thompson, a member of the city's Transit Advisory Committee, said the coupon program is a "nice gesture." "It would be better if they ran the buses on time," said Thompson, a public-transportation professor at Florida State University. Thompson added he was not a bus rider until StarMetro changed its system. He said a new system was necessary since the old approach catered to the downtown area being the focal travel point, and the city's growth over the years demands a more far-reaching approach. Since the launch, there's been a 12-percent increase in ridership. As a result, Garrison said route changes include slowing down or speeding up the frequency a bus serves certain routes. He said these kinds of changes could take six weeks when a new system launches, but he wanted to minimize the "growing pains." "It works real well for a lot of customers but it doesn't work well for everyone," Garrison said. "So we want to fix it for the folks (for whom) it doesn't work well." Residents voiced concern and support of the new system through emails, phone calls and social-networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Garrison said rider input is the catalyst triggering the changes. "We listened. We heard you. Now we are going to make the changes that work for you," Garrison said. "It's that simple." 3 comments: 1) squareman 6:28 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment has been removed from our system. This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore squareman. Show DetailsHide Details Wasn't Dr. Thompson the person that spoke at a city commission meeting who said that the new system would not work well with the headways being so long? It is hard to remember since so many people spoke against StarMetro's ill-advised Nova 2010 plan. More people spoke against it at that meeting than spoke for it, but still the city commission gave Ron Garrison the green light to go forward with it. And now everyone wonders why the new system isn't working? Ron Garrison and StarMetro were told to expect every single problem that they currently have... but still the city commission gave them the green light to go forward with it. The city commission needs to take its head out of the sand and acknowledge the mistake they made in putting their trust in a buffoon like Ron Garrison. They need to fire him and put someone in charge that has half a brain and a smidgen of common sense. 2) squiffynole 7:18 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore squiffynole. Show DetailsHide Details I have a different view. The old route system was fine when Tallahassee was smaller and trips were more center focused. The new route system better responds to today's more spread out housing, employment and shopping. Mr. Garrison is working to match the new routes with a better fleet, more accessible public information, improved bus shelters and sidewalks. Sure there are problems and there will be a continuing need to adjust but StarMetro is modernizing and it is good for the City. 3) squareman 8:03 AM on July 29, 2011 This comment has been removed from our system. This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore squareman. No one is arguing that the old system was perfect; there is no question that changes were needed. What is being questioned is the method that was used to implement those changes. Ron Garrison and StarMetro minimized or completely ignored anything that even resembled criticism of their precious little Nova 2010 plan. They were told to expect that people would have difficulty making connections with the headways being so long. They were told of the plight of the residents at Miccosukee HIlls; every concern raised was minimized or completely ignored. They made a big, fat hairy deal of how they were going to put up Braille placards to assist visually impaired bus riders and here we are two weeks into the new systems and the placards have not been put up and the latest word is that there is not enough money to put all of them up. Notice how they don't make a big deal about their failure to follow through on promises that they made.