City Council Parks
Public Transportation Proposal

July 20, 2009
The Arab City Council has put the brakes on a proposal to provide public transportation in the Arab area.  The council discussed the proposal during it's Monday night workshop.  Council members cited the expected cost and lack of interest as the reason.

Mayor Gary Beam said that he had received a list of about 30 - 40 people who were interested in the service but council members said they had heard little from those who might have an interest.  Councilman Johnny Hart said that he had received two calls favoring the service.  Council members Ronny Shumate, Brian Bishop, and Jimmy Reeves, said they had not received any calls or comments supporting the project.  Beam said that he thought the list of names was from a list circulated at the Arab Senior Center.

Beam showed the council a report from the City of Guntersville which outlined the number of riders, mileage, revenues, and costs for the week of June 15-19.  According to the report, the Guntersville service averaged about 35 riders per day.  The service collected $236 in fares but cost the City of Guntersville $1,014.42 for the week.

Beam said he would recommend a trial period of three months with the service being available one day per week if the council decided to participate.  He said the service could be continued if it turned out to be valuable or discontinued if it wasn't used or was too expensive.

Councilman Shumate said he could not support spending the amount of money needed to fund the service for a few people when the City can not fund other services that would benefit hundreds of citizens.  Shumate added that only 30-40 out of a population of 8,000 is not enough to justify the expense.

Councilman Hart said he was concerned about the lack of interest expressed to him.  Bishop said there are a lot of other needs that need to be funded right now.  Beam said that he did not disagree with the sentiments of the council.

The council agreed to park the idea for the time being and to revisit it later if the need becomes apparent and if finances allowed.

Beam said that he had received a call from an Arab citizen who was interested in volunteering to help with those who need transportation.