Editor’s note: John Flaherty of the Coalition to Keep Bus Service on Rodney Square offers a response to Delaware Business Now’s defense of the decision to dismantle the DART bus hub on Rodney Square in Wilmington.
A few years ago, WILMAPCO, the regional transportation planning agency along with the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and the Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC) participated in a report prepared by the State Smart Transportation Initiative.
One of the recommendations made in this report was to address the class/status issues at Rodney Square in Wilmington.
The recommendation found that it may be necessary to hire a public relations firm to address the misconception of mistaking transit riders for homeless persons and panhandlers.
Yet, public pronouncements by the Governor, public officials, lobbyists and others who would benefit by the dismantling of a bus hub ignore this recommendation and bring into question exactly why this hub was dismantled.
The nearly 2,300 citizens who signed petitions to the Governor questioning the dismantling of the Rodney Square bus hub last December 17, 2017, did not have the opportunity to observe and monitor the decisions of our elected and public officials prior to the removal of bus stops at Rodney Square.
However, public documents published in local media in March of this year show that months before Delaware’s transit agency, DART, formally announced their plan for public hearings in September 2017 to dismantle the Rodney Square bus hub, Wilmington business leaders emailed and met privately with the governor and members of his staff and other public officials, pressuring Delaware’s executive for “final decisions.”
In this case, the public did not have that equal opportunity, with all the secret meetings and redacted emails, to participate in a government decision, the dismantling of the Rodney Square bus hub.
DART’s former bus stops on Rodney Square provided a safe, secure and convenient transit hub for thousands of bus passengers to transfer between DART bus routes serving points throughout the city, county and the state and has been essential to the freedom of mobility for those who cannot afford a car such as single parents, students, senior citizens and disabled citizens.
The Coalition to Keep Bus Service on Rodney Square continues to fight for the public interest and not for the special interest and supports the restoration of the Rodney Square bus hub, one of the finest bus hubs in the country.
