At last night’s meeting, the Greensboro City Council voted down a technology grant that would have installed a GPS system in city buses, allowing passengers minute-by minute updates on bus routes. The city’s part of the tab would be $83,000, the N&R reports.
The two ‘yes’ votes were Dianne Bellamy-Small and Robbie Perkins, who are also PART board members. Their argument for installing the system pretty much was that PART was doing it and everyone else should do it, too. Perkins also argued that installing the system was about jobs, because PART was transporting people from rural areas to their jobs in the surrounding cities. If you’re depending on a bus to get to work but you need tracking information to see if the bus is on time, then you might have a problem getting to work on time, which could cause problems with your employer. And again, I’ve never seen a PART bus with more than one person on it. No doubt supporters of the GPS system believe will attract more riders.
In fairness to Bellamy-Small, she did voice concerns about funding GTA’s other needs before voting ‘yes’ for the GPS system. There was also a moment of humor when she evoked Thomasville’s new city bus system, which prompted an inaudible crack from someone regarding City Manager Kelly Craver’s arrest for possession of marijuana.
“I ain’t got nothing to with anybody smoking pot,” Bellamy-Small said. “Maybe that decision was made when he was high, I don’t know.”
