Deena Winter: Why does the city buy such big buses?

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One of the biggest complaints readers make about public buses is that they’re always riding around empty, or nearly empty.

So why does the city buy such behemoth buses?

StarTran head Larry Worth recently wrote that StarTran runs medium-sized, 35-foot buses (the large ones are 40-footers). Worth said the buses have a 12-year lifespan, although StarTran typically runs them for as long as 15.

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The smaller 30-foot buses generally have an eight- to 10-year life. So while the cost to buy the smaller buses is “somewhat less” than StarTran’s larger buses, Worth said, the cost over the buses’ lifespans is lower.

He said the difference in operating costs is negligible, since the biggest costs are drivers’ salaries, maintenance and fuel — which he says are equal or nearly equal.

But now, at least one bus manufacturer is building 30-foot buses with a 12-year lifespan. The city will consider those when it buys new buses in the next few years.

BTW, ridership is up

Last year, 1.8 million passengers boarded StarTran buses, a 20 percent increase in ridership over the past three years, Worth said.

StarTran Transit Planner Brian Praeuner said ridership increased 5 percent last year.

City officials also hope revised routes, which go into effect Thursday, will make the bus system more efficient and get more people on the buses.

Who’s anti-business now?

After months of negotiations, Lincoln legalized digital, or electronic, billboards in December 2006, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising started putting them up around town last summer.

But in Omaha, things didn’t go nearly as smoothly. Digital billboards arrived in the opposite fashion: Lamar erected them, and the city cried foul.

Lamar contends that since Omaha’s city code doesn’t specifically ban the billboards, they’re allowed; Omaha says not so. Lamar sued the city; the city countersued.

It’s a pricey issue: Lamar converted five of its billboards to digital, at a cost of about $250,000 each, the company said last year.

Now, Omaha is looking at a temporary ban on the billboards while it works on regulations.

The whole thing sort of defies Lincoln’s anti-business and Omaha’s pro-business reputations.

Lincoln Planning Director Marvin Krout said Lincoln’s city code was silent on the issue, and Lamar asked the city to work with it on legislation. While there was some controversy over the amount of animation that should be allowed on the billboards, they were legalized without much ado.

“I think it’s a shame that Omaha isn’t as business-friendly as Lincoln,” Krout said mockingly.

More evidence

And if you think Lincoln’s more anti-business because it’s picky with its design guidelines and so on, consider the nearly citywide design guidelines recently released in Omaha.

Omaha By Design is a sort-of master plan for the city — what its streets, medians and lighting should look like someday.

That sounds like utopia or micromanaging, depending upon your perspective. Lincoln already has similar design standards in certain neighborhoods and historic areas (think decorative lighting and landscaped medians that designate certain neighborhoods). Lincoln is also working on new design standards for Antelope Valley and downtown.

But Lincoln’s standards aren’t nearly as extensive as Omaha’s. More evidence, Krout jokes, that Lincoln is more business-friendly than Omaha.

On hold

Republicans on the Lincoln City Council have contracted heartburn over a redevelopment plan for the area near Van Dorn and 10th streets.

Skeptical from the start — but in the minority when the area was blighted last year — Republicans delayed a vote on the redevelopment Monday. They’re in the majority now, but appear poised to approve the project anyway.

Republican council members have expressed angst over using tax increment financing to make sidewalk, alley and trail improvements when the developer doesn’t want to use TIF. 

B&J Partnership plans to build a retail and office park in the area bounded by Ninth, 10th, Hill and Van Dorn streets. The developer declined  any “free land” or “free money” from the city. But it doesn’t mind if the city uses the increase in property taxes to make improvements to the area, especially after the state finishes adding turning lanes from 10th Street to Van Dorn.

Republicans wondered how the project meets the “but for TIF, this project couldn’t happen” test when the developer doesn’t want to use the urban renewal financing tool.

“If we start down that road, where does it end?” Councilwoman Robin Eschliman asked.

Urban Development Director David Landis said this is closer to how TIF was intended to be used: to revitalize old, blighted areas.

The project is in Councilman Jonathan Cook’s district, and he said it was part of a compromise with the neighborhood, which was concerned about B&J’s development and the ensuing traffic.

He said if TIF has become this “touchy” to the council, perhaps council members should tell the chamber to stop advertising it as an economic development tool.

The council delayed action for two weeks.

He said it

“If there is a slippery slope, we’ve begun to descend that slippery slope in the past.” — Urban Development Director David Landis, after council members worried whether they were properly using tax increment financing for a project near 10th and Van Dorn streets.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.