BUS SERVICE TO PLEASANT PRAIRIE LOCATIONS WILL BE DISCONTINUED IN JANUARY
Kenosha Area Transit will discontinue city bus service to Pleasant Prairie locations in January of 2011. The Village locations that will be impacted include:
• St. Catherine's Medical Center Campus
• The Prairie Ridge retail development and senior campus
• St. Joseph's Home for the Aged
• LakeView Corporate Park
HISTORY OF BUSING IN THE VILLAGE
Kenosha Area Transit began providing city bus service to: St. Catherine's Medical Center Campus and the Prairie Ridge development in 2003; LakeView Corporate Park in 2002/2003; and St. Joseph's Home for the Aged while Pleasant Prairie was still a town, more than twenty years ago. Because the majority of Village residents do not utilize the transit system, the Village does not absorb these expenses into the General Property Tax Levy. Businesses who benefit from city busing have been paying for the service. Village taxes do not pay for city transit services provided to private businesses.
For bus service to St. Catherine's and Prairie Ridge, the City, in the past, has sent a bill to Pleasant Prairie, and the Village, in turn, has billed the hospital and the developer of Prairie Ridge. LakeView Corporate Park worked directly with the City to obtain bus service, and Kenosha Area Transit has not billed for bus service to St. Joseph's Home for the Aged before.
316% FEE INCREASE PROPOSED FOR 2011 CITY BUS SERVICE
In late September of 2010, Kenosha Area Transit sent the Village a summary of Transit Services, highlighting their net cost per mile of $1.6958 and the fees they would be charging for bus service to Village locations during 2011. The summary proposed a fee increase of 316% for bus service to locations in the Village of Pleasant Prairie. Fees for a bus route traveling to LakeView Corporate Park increased from $7,725 per year to $43,588 per year. Fees for bus routes traveling to St. Joseph's, St. Catherine's and the Prairie Ridge development increased from $9,270 to $27,177 per year. In response, the Village shared information about the proposed fee increase with the locations that have been impacted.
OUTCOME
As a result of the large fee increase, the businesses who pay for the bus service to these locations in the Village have opted to stop using the service. As of January 1, 2010, city busses will no longer stop at locations in the Village. Currently, Pleasant Prairie is not considering the creation of an additional transit system. "In the past, the Village has looked at the cost of operating a transit system," explained Village Administrator Mike Pollocoff. "Operating an independent transit system in the Village would not make sense financially. Should circumstances change at some point in the future, we could always take another look."