The Associated Students of Fort Lewis College are currently working on a new contract with the Durango Transit. The current contract allows students to ride the transit with their student pass, with funding coming from the ASFLC about to expire.
The contract currently states that a student pays about $10 per semester as part of a student fee to receive a bus pass provided by the Skycard Office, Amber Blake, director of transportation and sustainability at Durango Transit, said at the ASFLC meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
The contract renewal does not officially happen until 2017, but Blake said it would be best to begin sooner rather than later.
Mark Mastalski, director of the Leadership Center and advisor to the ASFLC, said he began working on the contract in the spring of this year. During that time the proposed $30 per student fee was brought to him and he gave enrollment numbers to the Durango Department of Transportation and Sustainability.
Currently, the contract is set to raise the fee to $15 per student per semester to cover the rising cost of providing public transportation, Blake said.
That contract also stipulates that within the 5 year contract, there is a 2 percent raise in the fee every year, she said.
Blake said the transportation department has been discussing this budgetary issue with the Durango City Council for 7 years.
“We are at the point where we do not have anymore savings,” she said.
Blake said the transit program is currently about $350,000 short of the 2016 budget.
“If we have to raise the fees to keep the wheels running, then that’s what we have to do,” she said.
FLC students make up 25 percent of the ridership of transit, Blake said.
From 2009 to 2010 there was a 9 percent increase in student ridership, this was raised from about 56,000 rides in 2009 to approximately 61,000 in 2010, Mastalski said. In 2014 students rode the “T” about 85,000 times. FLC goes through about 4,000 “T” passes per semester.
The ASFLC has been funding student passes since at least the early 90s, Mastalski said. This was done to help provide transportation services to students.
Bus passes are offered to the general public for $30 per month, said Blake. That amounts to $360 annually.
Currently, Durango Transit also has a contract with Mercy Regional Medical Center providing annual bus passes at $45 per employee. This contract may also be asked to increase during their next contract renewal due to budgeting.
Blake said during 2014-2015, of all the rides taken during the year, FLC students presenting their bus passes accounted for 85,000 rides on the bus.
The ASFLC senate members raised concerns on the reality of how many students ride the bus regularly. The ASFLC is currently presented with pros and cons concerning the issue of transit renewal.
The biggest advantage of accepting the contract as it is, is that FLC is guaranteed service from the transit, Phil Carter, speaker of the senate and senator for the ASFLC, said.
“We have had the deal of the century on the cost and benefit of public transit here at FLC for the time that I've been here,” he said. “Now we need to decide if we want to risk losing some of our service, or pay a bit more into the system to continue the current practices.”
Mastalski said student transportation is a common concern for parents at orientation. Some students get rides from friends, others bike but the Durango “T” is an important mode of transportation for many students, he said.
However, Carter also pointed out the drawbacks to this contract.
“The proposed new contract is approximately a 50 percent increase over the previous contract. Both contracts increase at 2 percent per year to account for inflation and span a period of 5 years,” he said. “There are no proposed changes to service, schedules, or otherwise from the proposed contract.”
While increased cost is a concern, many students rely on the “T” for transportation, Mastalski said.
During this time, The ASFLC is representing student interests as it relates to the increase of a student fee by 50 percent.
Carter said the ASFLC finds its prerogative to determine what actions are best for the entire student body.
“In this instance, we will likely do polling of students in order to have a more representative data-set to operate from,” he said. “We have talked in senate about the possibility of creating a small surcharge for students who get the “T”-sticker that allows them to ride free of charge, in order to reduce the increase to all students.”
A compromise of $25 per student with a 2 percent increase per year to account for inflation and increased maintenance costs is being worked on, Mastalski said.
Overall, Carter believes that the possibility of not renewing the contract could lead to reduced service to and from FLC.
“I believe that we should pursue the cheapest option that does not pose a threat to limiting the “T”'s service to and from the campus,” he said.