A week and a half ago, Go Triangle put out their Ride the Bus video. It’s a rap, and it tells you everything you need to know if you want to ride the bus, but aren’t quite sure how. Or at least that’s the idea.
The video is pretty terrible, but I get the impression that Go Triangle knows that. It features employees, and while these all seem like nice people, there’s a reason they’re working for Go Triangle rather than producing rap videos for a living. They seem to be enjoying themselves, and the whole thing is lighthearted. They’re not trying to win any Oscars.
But here’s the thing. There’s all that staff time. And there’s the cost of producing the video itself. I have no idea what that all adds up to, and I can’t find any information from Go Triangle about what it cost to produce that video.
But I do know how Go Triangle is funded. Last year, Wake County voters approved an additional sales tax to fund the transit plan. The tax kicked in in April, and that money goes to Go Triangle.
We all pay it, a little bit at a time, every day. Everything we buy is that bit more expensive because sales tax has gone up in Wake County. And I somehow don’t think the voters were really thinking about rap videos when they approved that tax increase. I don’t think anyone is going to ride the bus because of seeing the video. I don’t think very many people are even going to watch the video in the first place. And I certainly don’t think it’s the best use of taxpayer money.
