Roll toward the future

Bus system needs changes for success

When it comes to those pithy titles lawmakers and presidents dream up for their favored pieces of legislation, they usually make for good marketing of a law’s intent. It’s what’s in the bill that matters, though, no matter what the intentions.

As we pondered recent news about Ozark Regional Transit, we were strangely thinking about President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, which honestly has nothing to do with mass transit. We never had any issue with not leaving any child behind, but the moniker (and the testing that went with it) always felt like a safety net to keep students from falling behind while ignoring another desirable goal — ensuring every student is capable of reaching his or her full potential. That potential takes different forms. Success can mean many different things because students are unique and capable in different ways.

Maybe that’s why the current education law, approved in 2015, was dubbed the Every Student Succeeds Act. Success will mean different things for different students, but our national goal should be empowering every student to be as successful as possible.

Ozark Regional Transit is the bus system serving Washington, Benton, Madison and Carroll counties. For years, its leadership has pressed the case that mass transit is a critical component of this growing region’s future, and we believe them. Northwest Arkansas needs a robust system of mass transit.

Lately, leaders of the transit system have raised questions about whether the board that governs it is, to some degree, a hindrance as much as a help. Why? The eight-member board is made up of representatives of Fayetteville,

Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and the four county governments, each of them with an equal vote affecting the systems operations.

But like those school children when it comes to educational policy, not every member city or county of the ORT board is on equal footing. As far as financial contributions to the annual operation of the transit system, Fayetteville contributes $ 514,348. The next highest contributor is Rogers at $443,288, then Springdale at $369,440 and Bentonville at $140,463.

Look at the counties and the disparity is even greater: Washington County at $22,970, Benton at $17,500 and Carroll at $1,500. Madison County contributes no funding.

And yet representatives of all of those governments get a vote on the future of the system.

One might say that’s not fair, but life’s not fair. Rather, we’d suggest it’s not beneficial to Ozark Regional Transit, which has starkly different needs when it comes to serving densely populated areas as opposed to the more sparsely populated rural ones.

Mass transit is, largely, an urban issue, although the availability of rural transportation matters, too. It’s just an entirely different animal, as they say. So Ozark Regional officials are pondering governance changes that link voting representation to the financial contributions each entity makes.

Giving those cities who are investing most substantially in the system stronger voices is an improved way to ensure ORT’s board is responsive to the needs of the region as measured by local government’s readiness to devote funding to the system.

Those who don’t or won’t invest in the system shouldn’t be capable of dictating decisions, some of which can be a barrier to mass transit’s best future in a growing Northwest Arkansas.