‘PART needs to survive’

The N&R editorializes on PART’s proposed merger with the newly-created Piedmont Triad Regional Council.

While the editorial does a good job of exploring why PART’s in financial trouble to begin with, it concludes:

In the long run, a steadier revenue stream must be found and tapped. PART needs to survive. A viable regional mass transit system is important to the Piedmont’s economy, and we’re not there yet. A Brookings Institution study ranks the Greensboro-High Point area 74th nationwide in access to public transportation. Only 30 percent of area jobs are accessible by bus.

Creative responses are in order. Merging services to save money could be one solution.

I personally don’t believe that a viable mass transit system in important to a region’s economy, because when the economy is humming, people are buying automobiles to get themselves to work.