By Staff
Dial-A-Ride Transit (DART) traveled 44,300 miles around the city last year, according to its annual report. Buses carried 24,052 passengers, of whom 32 percent were elderly or disabled.
On average during the school year, DART transports 45 students per day to school. An 18-passenger bus is earmarked for school deliveries.
Public transportation doesn't guarantee timely arrival, which could be more of a problem next year when Dowagiac Middle School opens.
Vehicle replacement is mandated every five years. Replacement of a 1999 bus is one of two capital purchases requested for the 2005 budget, along with a new four-bay building, which would be 100-percent grant-funded.
If the structure is approved, it perhaps could be "co-located" with the new fire station city officials envision building sometime in the next several years on S. Front Street, opposite Chestnut Towers.
DART, which had a $156,953 budget in 2003, projects a 2004 budget of $165,252.