EDITORIAl: Eat, drink and be merry, for you'll fund mass transit in NWI

Times of Northwest Indiana

The Regional Bus Authority is weighing two scenarios for the future of bus transportation in Northwest Indiana.

It could either skip a few evolutionary steps and immediately become like the suburban PACE bus service, or it could serve as an umbrella organization over a variety of local operators.

Either way, it's going to be a costly change. That makes the cheapest option the most realistic. Serving as an umbrella organization would be a good first stage for the RBA.

Eventually, the RBA itself should operate the bus services, but bringing together the varied bus services will be a chore in itself.

The RBA will need to cajole the existing bus operators into working with the RBA on providing one contact point for customers wanting information about bus service.

The RBA also will need to coordinate routes throughout the region to make sure people can traverse the region efficiently, not just move within their own communities.

Then there's the funding puzzle.

East Chicago and North Township don't charge fares. Everyone else does. Logically, there would be one fare structure for the entire region. Getting to that point might take time, however.

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority has given the RBA seed money to get organized, but there is no permanent funding source for the RBA yet.

Fares alone cannot sustain bus operations, just as fares alone cannot support passenger rail service.

RBA Chairman Dennis Rittenmeyer is urging implementation of a 1 percent food and beverage tax, something the Lake County Council already is legally empowered to do, with the money to go to the RBA.

The money might have to go to the RBA through the RDA, but that's easily resolved.

The tax would raise an estimated $7.6 million per year in Lake County. If Porter County adopts it, the tax would raise $1.7 million there.

This tax is not, as some say, a north-south issue.

Much of the money would be paid by patrons at the casinos and other venues in northern Lake County.

This tax also isn't a big burden on anyone. Restaurants already collect a sales tax; this would just bump that tax rate up another percentage point. And customers who might pay $30 for a meal would pay just 30 cents to support the bus service.

There are others who covet the money this tax would raise. But expanding the region's transportation infrastructure is vital, and the RBA plays a role in improving that access.

The RBA has not yet chosen which option to pursue, but it's on the verge of doing so.

Go with the cheapest alternative, and go with the 1 percent food and beverage tax.