Brio blues

November 30, 2014

Following up on the state of the Brio system, some promised features are not in operation.

Honor system

While you are supposed to pay for your ticket at the kiosk inside the bus stop, the reality is that the fare box inside the bus is not being used.  Just get on the Brio and wave at the driver.  The city tells us that from time to time they will have “ambassadors” on the bus that will ask you to produce your ticket.  So much for efficiency.  From their web site:

  • During the months of October through November, failure to show proof of payment will result in being given a verbal warning and required to pay the fare at the farebox.
  • Effective the month of December, failure to show proof of payment will result in being escorted off Brio and required to pay the fare at the Brio ticket vending machine.
  • Effective the month of January, Sun Metro will implement a graduating fare evasion policy that could include a verbal warning, written warning or transit fines.

Credit cards

If you are inclined to actually pay for your trip you will need to use cash at the kiosk.  The credit card readers are not functioning or at least they have not when I tried them.   The fare boxes and credit card machines are items that we have paid for, evidently because someone wanted the money.

Next bus

The Brio web information originally told us that one of the features of the new bus stops is that they would have a display device that would tell us when the next bus would arrive.  We have the display devices.  They do not provide arrival information.  One of the realities about our governments using web pages to provide information is that they can change what they tell us anytime they want to.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government | Permalink
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EPISD smoke screen

November 29, 2014

I got the tip for this post from one of our blog readers.  I hope that you all will continue to feel free to point things out to me.

While you are busy filling out your EPISD facility option surveys the school district has already decided what to do about their central office.

The city owns the land that the central office sits on now and wants the district to move.  District administrators have told us that the move will probably cost $40 million.  With the former chief financial officer of the city now on the district’s appointed board of managers we should all wonder what the $40 million will turn into.

The city doesn’t need the land, it just wants it.  Don’t be surprised if someday we learn of another sweetheart deal relating to the land.  In the meantime the school district’s taxpayers will just have to pay for the expense of moving.

The district would have us think that with the expected drop in enrollment and the possibility of closing schools maybe the central office people could be moved into one or more of the closed schools.

Not when they’ve already made up their minds

The district recently issued request for qualifications number 15-027.  The RFQ seeks statements of qualifications from architects.  Submitting a response to this RFQ will cost the firms both time and money, so no one will be happy if the district decides not to build the new building.

As far as re-using old buildings, the RFQ instead specifies:

Construction of new administration building with site improvements.

Location: 4900 Woodrow Bean Drive, El Paso, Texas 79924.

Legal Description: Being A Portion of Lot 5, Block 6, Castner Range Subdivision #1, City of El Paso, El Paso County, Texas

Land Area: Approx. 28.0 Acres

Proposed Personnel Capacity: 500 employees

Proposed Building Area: 120,000 Sq. Ft. (Approximate); 2 Floors; Separate Police Services Building.

So they evidently have decided to build a new building instead of using old schools.  They have decided where the building will be and how big it will be.

The district does not have to hire an architect or build the new building, but if the architectural firms spend the money to go through the selection process and the district does not build the building the district will have wasted a lot of private firm’s money.  People will not be happy.

The district evidently thinks that the central office needs 500 employees.  I suspect that many of the teachers would like to see that number closer to 200.

And as a loyal reader/commenter pointed out the other day the RFQ does not tell the potential architects to make plans for moving our existing planetarium.  The planetarium is an educational facility.  I guess that can just be torn down like the city did Insights.

In the meantime fill out your surveys so that you can be ignored.  Moving into old schools or acquiring one of El Paso’s many vacant warehouses evidently is not in the cards.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

6 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Brio madness getting worse

November 28, 2014

Following up on the unfortunate waste that is Brio I got to thinking about the construction costs.

According to their web site the Brio system for Mesa street cost $27.1 million.

They bought 10 buses for $790,000 each giving us a total of 7.9 million dollars for the buses.  That leaves 19.2 million dollars to build the bus stops.

Once again according to their web site there are 11 areas where the buses stop with each area having two stops, one on the north bound side and the other on the south bound side of Mesa.  That gives us 22 stops.  Actually they have yet to build the permanent one on the north bound side of Monticello and they only had to build the south bound one at the Glory Road transfer station.

I’m going to leave the number of new stops at 22 for purposes of this post.

Taking the 19.2 million dollars and dividing it by 22 stops gives us a cost of $872,727 per stop.  According to our local tax and spend authorities the average house in El Paso is valued at $124 thousand on the tax rolls.  That puts the cost of each of the stops at about the equivalent of seven homes.

We could have added regular buses without the special stops if we wanted to have more frequent service.

It gets worse

Of the $27.1 million the Mesa corridor cost, $19.6 came from feral and state funds, leaving us with a $7.5 million bill.

Sun Metro plans to build the Alameda corridor next.  The Alameda corridor is projected to cost $35.5 million.  Who will pay that bill?  The answer is local taxpayers.  Our city council voted to pay for the project with local funds to show El Paso’s commitment to mass transit.

Can this be stopped?

We deserve better

Brutus

 

5 Comments | City government, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Thanks

November 27, 2014

On this Thanksgiving day I would like to express my appreciation for the regular readers and commenters on our blog.

With people who care enough to stay informed and active in local situations we have a chance of making our local conditions better.

It takes commitment and time to stay informed and active and I appreciate those of you who do.

Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Brutus

6 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Hubris often leads to downfall

November 26, 2014

Should it all be over but the shouting at this point?

One of our county commissioners released an email that our county hospital chief executive sent to him this August 15, 2014.  The email said “There were no bonuses paid in 2014 and we expect no bonuses through this year”.

Then in the early part of November the hospital board awarded the CEO a bonus of almost $120 thousand.  It looks like the county commissioner learned about the bonus through the public’s reaction to the situation.

Did our CEO forget his statement to the county commissioner?  Why did he not clear the record immediately when he decided to receive the bonus?

Was he lying or did he forget?  Could it be that he feels no responsibility to the county commissioners?  The CEO works for the hospital board.  The board is appointed by the commissioners.

To me this is worse than lying to your boss.  This is lying to your boss’s boss, and in effect to the public.

We have seen a disturbing pattern of duplicity from this CEO over the years.  He seems to think that he can tell stories to the public and then do as he wishes.

At this point it is hard to believe what he says.  We need to have confidence in the truthfulness of the people running our public institutions.

We are told that he will soon be announcing a change in plans relative to the children’s hospital.  What part of that can we believe?

We deserve better

Brutus

20 Comments | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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