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UNIVERSITY HALL CI1A
pel mu
Chapel Hill leases U
NC
nd
by Jim Roberts
News Editor
In a joint press conference with UNC
officials last Monday, Chapel Hill Mayor
Howard N. Lee announced the town will
lease . 34 acres near the Horace Williams
Airport from the University.
The property, to be used for a proposed
bus garage and public works building, was
leased to the town for $1 a year for 30 years.
Lee said the town had been prepared to pay
up to $250,000 for a smaller site.
Lee called the agreement with the
University a highlight of his term as mayor,
saying it would "strengthen the cooperative
relation spirit between the University and the
city."
The bus garage was originally to be built
on the town's Plant Road property, where a
temporary garage will be constructed.
Assistant Transportation Director John
Bartosiewicz said the temporary facility, to
be built with town funds, should be
completed by late October.
Alderman Alice Welsh, whose committee
recommended the airport site, said the Plant
Road location would not have allowed the
proposed facility room for expansion should
Carrboro decide to enter the bus system.
The agreement "saves the town an
enormous amount of money," Welsh said.
"Now the Plant Road site can become 1 1.5
acres of recreational land."
Located in the northeast corner of the
University's airport property, the site is
bounded on the north by the Glen Heights
district, on the east by N.C. highway 86, on
the south by an unpaved road and on the
west by a diagonal line that marks off the 34
acres.
Lee said a natural tree and shrub buffer
zone to the north and east will obscure the
facility from the sight of motorists on N.C.
86 and residents of Glen Heights.
Claiborne S. Jones, UNC vice-chancellor
for business and finance, said the lease
agreement with the town prohibits uses of
the land which could result in environmental
pollution such as waste disposal.
The agreement, approved two weeks by
the North Carolina Council of State, must
now go to the Urban Mass Transit
Administration (UMTA) for site approval.
Funds from UMTA's original capital grant
for the town bus sytem will be used in the
garage construction.
Bartosiewicz said federal funds will
account for approximately 80 per cent of the
construction cost.
University Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor
called the agreement a "milestone in
demonstrative ability of the town and
University to work together in the interest of
the community. The University is proud to
give up the land."
Lee credited much of the background
work in the negotiations to Jones and Town
Attorney Emery B. Denny.
Carrboro considers bus system
by Helen Ross
Staff Writer
With Chapel Hill's year-old bus system
getting rave reviews in the mass
transportation business, Carrboro is
considering getting into the act, too.
The Law and Finance Committee of the
Carrboro Board of Aldermen is studying the
possibility of establishing a bus system in
that community.
If Carrboro does decide to develop a
transit system, its operation would almost
certainly be linked to the system in Chapel
Hill.
"I don't think there's anyone who is
talking about a separate system with a
separate organization in Carrboro,"
Carrboro resident Doug Sharer said Friday.
"That's just out of the question."
Chapel Hill Transportation Director John
Pappas said he supports Sharer's
contention. "I think that all parties agree
that it's not in anyone's best interests to have
a separate system in Carrboro."
Pappas said' he presented the Carrboro
aldermen with information on transit
systems in order to start communications
between the two communities. This material
was basically meant for discussion purposes,
Pappas said.
Another Carrboro resident, Sarah Carter,
said the information was presented
informally, in the form of an in-house memo
from Pappas to former Chapel Hill Town
Manager Chet Kendzior.
Since the bus system is a Carrboro issue,
Pappas said Chapel Hill will take a passive
role while Carrboro decides whether to form
its own system. He added that the Chapel
Hill Department of Transportation will be
available for assistance.
"If the town of Carrboro wants a bus
system, they have to make that w ish known,"
Pappas said.
Sharer said he feels that political
negotiations must take place to decide what
type of agreement the two towns could
arrange to start the Carrboro service.
Neither Sharer nor Chapel Hill Alderman
Gerry Cohen are optimistic that negotiations
between the two towns can begin in the near
future.
"The present composition of the Carrboro
Board of Aldermen is not concerned with the
transportation question," Sharer said. He
estimated that, of the six aldermen, "only
two and a half members" would support the
but system.
Since a referendum on public
transportation was defeated in Carrboro
several years ago. Carter said she believes
community citizens must let the aldermen
know their opinions on the proposed system.
"In my opinion, lots of interest must be
generated from the population and brought
before the board," Carter said. Aside from
the overall population, the students and the
elderly stand to gain from a public
transportaton system linked with Chapel
Hill, she said.
A survey taken last spring to gauge
support for a Carrboro bus system showed
that a majority of respondents would react
favorably. Carter said. Questions on the
survey indicated interest in the system, the
degree of potential use and- citizen tax
support that could be expected.
Sharer outlined several ways the Carrboro
system might be linked with Chapel Hill's. 11
Chapel Hill extended its services to include
the Carrboro area, Carrboro could pay a
percentage of money to Chapel H ill based on
use or based on taxes.
Sharer said paying on a tax basis would
result in Chapel Hill virtually subsidizing the
Carrboro system, since the Carrboro tax
dollar is not as strong as Chapel Hill's.
Bus system older by 2 million
by Helen Ross
Staff Writer
With more than two million passengers to
its credit, the Chapel Hill' bus 'system has
completed its first year of service to the
community.
The bus system is attracting critical
acclaim from those with knowledge about
the transit business. "1 do know UMTA
(Urban Mass Transit Authority) is keeping a
close eye on us," Transportation Director
John Pappas said last week. "We are unique
in the industry."
Administrators from other prospective
and established transit systems such as
Charlottesville, Va., have visited Chapel Hill
to observe the bus system.
Ridership figures also support this
optimistic picture of the fledgling bus
system. For the six month period ending
June 30, the Chapel Hill bus system serviced
985,000 riders. That figure includes part of
the slump which is annually encountered by
the town when the majority of UNC students
leave for the summer.
During that same period, the Raleigh
transit system was used by a total of 840,000
people.
Bus system officials expect approximately
12,000 riders per day in the fall, an increase
of 2,000 over last year's daily figures. This
increase is due in part to higher gasoline
prices, which make the thought of riding a
bus more tempting economically, John
Bartosiewicz, assistant transportation
director, said.
Last year the transit system spent between
$75,000 and $100,000 more than was
provided for in the budget. Most of that
extra expense was for maintenance on the
16-year-old buses, which were bought from
Atlanta, Ga., to start the system, Pappas
said.
But, transit officials are quick to stress
that the bus system "is a public service
organization, similar to the fire, police and
sanitation departments, rather than a money
making operation.
"Until 1964 transit was a money making
proposition," Dick Rhode, operations
supervisor, said. In the past 10 years rising
labor and fuel costs, among other things,
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have made it virtually impossible for a
transit system to break even, Rhode said.
The transit system receives money to make
its budget in -several different ways. It is
financed by pass sales to UNC students and
townspeople, money from property taxes,
fare box collections and federal revenue
sharing.
In response to the realization that bus
systems were not making money, Rhode
said, the federal government passed the
Urban Mass Transit Act of 1964. This act
authorized grants for such improvements as
radios and garage space.
Another UMTA act passed in 1974
authorized grants to bus systems operating
in urban areas of more than 50,000 citizens.
Cjhe population of Chapel Hill is
approximately 40,000, including students.)
These revenue sharing grants would be used
to meet operating deficits, rather than to
make improvements, Rhode said.
Chapel Hill could qualify for similar funds
under a bill pending in Congress which
would authorize such grants to non
urbanized areas of less than 50,000 citizens,
Rhode added.
While Chapel Hill awaits passage of this
legislation, which could come as early as this
fall, improvements continue to be made in
the transit system. The engines and
transmissions of the old buses have been
rebuilt.
When a temporary maintenance facility is
built on Plant Road, each bus will be
repainted in the Chapel Hill colors,
reupholstered and cleaned.
Construction bids for the temporary
maintenace facility will be accepted
beginning Aug. 28. If there is an acceptable
bid a garage could be completed by Nov. 1,
1975, Bartosiewicz said.
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