Guest Comment: Help design our bus system

In Green Valley and Sahuarita, if you have a dentist appointment across town and don’t have a car or someone to drive you, you might be stuck. Well, help is on the way.

The Green Valley/Sahuarita Transit Committee is working to improve public transportation in these communities. Money is now available to expand and improve services.

And the committee is seeking your views on the type of vehicle you would like to ride, how much you would be willing to pay, and where the best places are to establish bus stops.

Over the next month, the committee will collect surveys from Green Valley and Sahuarita residents. The survey is included as an insert in today’s Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun.

You may also find the survey at the Sahuarita Town Hall, Green Valley Community Coordinating Council office, and the Green Valley/Sahuarita Chamber of Commerce. In addition, you may complete the survey online at www.RTAmobility.com.

Currently, Pima County Rural Transit operates only one bus in both communities with limited regional connector service between Green Valley/Sahuarita and Tucson as well as a circulator loop schedule in Green Valley and a call-n-ride service from Sahuarita.

For more information about this bus service or to schedule a ride, call American Pony Express Dispatch at 888-2996.

The Green Valley/Sahuarita Transit Committee knows there are many unmet transportation needs in the area. Over the past year, the committee has gotten together with Pima County and the Regional Transportation Authority to design and develop a more effective system.

The half-cent sales tax that passed in May 2006 to fund the Regional Transportation Authority’s plan now has money available to expand and improve bus services.

The local committee urges you to complete your survey and return it by Oct. 15 to the mailing address or drop-off locations listed on the survey. This is an opportunity for you—the people of Green Valley and Sahuarita who are prospective bus riders—to tell the committee exactly what you want in a local bus system.

Help the committee to help you get the local public transportation you need and want. Fill out and mail in your survey today.

Dick Roberts is Chair of the Green Valley/Sahuarita Transit Committee. The views expressed are the writer’s own and do not rflect those of this newspaper.