By GERALD NEILY and FERN SHEN

Baltimore is poised to spend $40 million over five years on a free hybrid “circulator bus” system to connect the Inner Harbor with the city’s biotech parks and upscale downtown neighborhoods — this at a time when city officials have cut police and fire overtime, instituted a hiring freeze and warned of imminent layoffs and probable library and rec center closings.

Why isn’t anybody asking the important questions about this pricey project? Perhaps one reason is that no one is explaining the full price.

The cost confusion was on display last week in a Sun budget briefing story in which city councilmembers learned about the city’s $7.5 million budget shortfall. Low in the article, two of them questioned what was described as “a planned $3 million circulator bus.”  This is actually just a portion of the first year’s cost.

“Three million for a bus?” asked Councilman Bernard C. “Jack” Young, according to the article, describing a presentation by budget officials. “Who is going to ride it?”

Ironically, at a Board of Estimates meeting the day after the budget hearing, final approval was given for a $40 million, five-year contract for Veolia Transportation to run the the system. (This action does not appear to have been reported anywhere.) The award suggests the bus system will cost $8 million per year.

Yet another cost estimate was put forth in September when the Council approved the parking tax increase designed to pay for the free bus service — the anticipated $4.5 to $6 million operating expense.

Fuzzy Figures

So, is the annual cost of the shuttle $8 million per year or $3 million per year or $4.5 million to $6 million? Here’s how deputy transportation director Jamie Kendrick answered the question, in an email to the Brew. Parse at your own risk:

“There’s lots of ways to slice the number. The annual operating cost of the Shuttle is expected to be approx $5.5 million. The City is putting up $6 million in capital sources to purchase the 21 buses for the operation ($3 million already appropriated in the capital budget and $3 million from the first half year’s increment of the parking tax which is now the source of the supplemental appropriation in question). Veolia is financing the other $6.9 million for the buses, which the City will pay back over the life of the contract. So if you add the $5.5 million (x 5 years) plus the $12.9 million for bus purchase, you end up around $40 million. Make sense? The Sun referred to the supplemental approp of $3 million.”

Somehow, the way the bus system is being presented, the 21 new buses don’t count.

Tale of Two Transit Systems

But enough of these cost quibbles, how about kicking the debate up a notch? There are plenty of resaons to argue for and against this project.

For: Baltimore is chronically lacking in transit tailored to short trips around town. Gettting through the city during the day can be a nightmare and fixing that problem makes Baltimore more livable for locals and appealing to visitors. Previous attempts to solve the problem (most recently the state-funded Downtown Area Shuttle, or DASH, 2002-2005) have failed, in part because the money dried up. The new system has its own funding, the parking tax revenue, and so might have a chance to succeed.

Against: The aforementioned city fiscal crisis. Plus, the MTA already runs hundreds of buses in this area and ought to be able to respond to this need. And why should yuppies and tourists get free service when folks in non-trendy areas have to pay? The MTA charges them $1.60, whether they’re going 10 blocks or 10 miles. The MTA has demonstrated no interest in changing its fare structure to lure more short distance rides on their system.

In a local urban planning newsgroup, EnvisionBaltimore – the place where such matters are aired out nowadays in Baltimore — Kendrick has described the project as pretty much a done deal, the tax increase money off-limits for other uses. This is a shame. The City had a rare thing – a revenue source that had not been previously tapped out and was available to use during hard times. And they decided to spend it on something the state was already supposed to be doing – providing transit.

(For more information on the planned bus line, including route maps, go to the website set up for a contest to name the new buses.)