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<br />Councilmember Strommen stated that all public transportation is subsidized. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec stated that he feels a huge number of residents commute and this is a service that <br />the City can offer its residents and $4.50 is out of line. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that the City's goal is to move the fare where it will be <br />comparable to train fare and the $4.50 fare was a hindrance to the ridership. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that he feels it is important to note that the City does not <br />have any option between $4.50 and $2.75 because of the way the fare boxes are set up. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen stated that she feels reducing the fare will meet the immediate goal of <br />boosting ridership and also the long term goal of providing transit alternatives to residents. She <br />stated that supporting this service helps enhance the quality of life for residents. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated that he is not sure he wants to pay for someone else to be able to <br />get downtown and feels this whole issue needs Council debate. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated that he also doesn't support this because the operating costs are <br />$37,000 monthly and the fare boxes only bring in $7,000. He stated that this service only has <br />about 60 regular riders and he does not feel the drop in fare will increase ridership. He stated <br />that basically with this service, 60 residents are subsidized $500 each month from the other <br />residents of the City. He stated that he feels this is just trying to artificially prove the need for a <br />rail stop in the City and he would like to be able to legitimately prove the need for a rail stop. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson stated that transportation is very high on the list of priorities for <br />constituents and reiterated Councilmember Strommen's comment that public transportation is <br />subsidized throughout the country. She stated that the State just approved a gas tax earlier this <br />week to help with transportation problems with bridges and roads. She stated that she doesn't <br />see this any different than subsidizing the roads, which all citizens do. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that he feels the fare reduction would definitely increase ridership. <br />He stated that 80% of the funding for this comes from the FT A and he supports bringing money <br />back into the City that residents have already paid. He stated that he feels this will have the <br />added benefit of taking some of the congestion off of Highway # 1 0 and does not feel this <br />artificially represents the need for a rail stop in the City. <br /> <br />Colin McGlone 9495 - 164 Lane, stated that all citizens use the roadways, so subsidizing that <br />makes sense to him. He stated that subsidizing bus service for 60 people does not make sense <br />and he feels there are other more pressing issues for the City to take care of. He stated that even <br />if the bus was full with over 450 people, he still would not support subsidizing it because the <br />"rule" is that people are still getting in their cars and driving to work. He stated that not <br />everyone needs to go all the way to Minneapolis <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson stated that the fare reduction adds up to about $17.50 a week and for that <br />amount of savings, she would get in her car and drive to Anoka and get on the bus there. <br /> <br />City Council /February 26, 2008 <br />Page 10 of 13 <br />