A coalition seeking the restoration of the Rodney Square DART hub continues to make its case to federal officials that public and private interests “colluded” in efforts to move bus service from the hub.
The hub was downsized in December of last year.
A letter from John Flaherty of the Coalition to Keep Bus Service on Rodney Square cites a series of emails obtained by DelawareOnline.com that show conversations among Gov. John Carney and state officials, Chemours Co. and Robert Buccini of Buccini/Pollin Group over dismantling the hub.
Chemours and Buccini/Pollin Group were working on an agreement to keep Chemours in the former DuPont Building near the hub.
Since the furor over dismantling the hub, the DART transit agency has added bus shelters downtown and indicated that an announcement of a new transit hub near the Wilmington Train Station is expected this year.
Carney has also said he walked the routes in question to determine if the transit changes caused hardships.
A letter from Flaherty said agreements outside public view were made regarding the transit hub. Flaherty also mentioned the regional transportation planning agency WILMAPCO as being part of the effort.
“WILMAPCO and other public officials colluded with special interests, in secret, in 2017 to dismantle the Rodney Square bus hub, established by then Gov. Mike Castle in 1992. Rodney Square’s success as a bus hub saw ridership nearly doubling since 1992,” Flaherty reported.
Flaherty went on to claim that the hub “was an essential part of the economic fabric of Wilmington and New Castle County as workers, businesses, and shoppers benefited from the ease and convenience of making bus connections in one central location.”
In the letter, he repeats earlier claims that the lack of a hub “creates a great hardship for not only disabled passengers and senior citizens who are forced to traverse multiple blocks between downtown Wilmington bus connections, sometimes up steep hills, especially during the harsh weather, causing havoc and disruption to the lives of poor people, minorities, disabled citizens and senior citizens for thousands of Dart passengers and also occurred at the height of last years holiday season when most riders were trying to go shopping or to get to seasonal jobs vital for extra income during the holidays.”
“Delaware citizens did not have the opportunity to observe the performance of their public officials in the dismantling of the Rodney Square bus hub. WILMAPCO colluded with other public officials to use federal transportation assets, to benefit the wishes of private officials,” Flaherty claimed in the letter.
