A Review of Week Two of the Collin County Connects Committee
The City of Plano ignores its residents yet again
As the next week dawned, so came the last round of the Collin County Connects Committee meetings. My expectations were already on the floor with Via’s presentation last week, but I had no clue just how bad it was going to get.
The last two presenters that came in on Tuesday were Rideco & Spare, and the meeting started off with a quick ushering towards the vendor presentations. With the goal to give each vendor the same amount of time to present, and how long Via’s presentation took on Thursday, I and many others knew we were in for a long night.
Rideco started off with a lengthy presentation on how they shared data across systems and what systems they worked with. Uber and Lyft were once again mentioned as primary parts for how the system would work, Uber was mentioned by name as their solution to lowering frequency times. From my own knowledge, the presentation given was exactly the same as one given at a Carrollton town hall meeting a few days prior, with only minor changes to swap out numbers. They only pitched software. No services, no vehicle types, and no true explanation on how service would work besides a brief demo of the app. It was overall a disappointing experience, it felt like a waste of time.
Just as it was in the last two meetings, any discussions of finances and costs were shut down, with members of the committee growing increasingly frustrated at the way most of their questions were being shut down. The presentation from Rideco ran so long that there was limited time to receive and answer questions to begin with, with many that were asked being tabled or ignored.
Once again Andrew Fortune showed he does not know how DART’s GoLink service works, flat out stating incorrect facts, and during a short break, committee member Nathan Adam chatted with me to confirm his suspicions; you can in fact go between GoLink zones, you just can’t cross the entire city through multiple zones when a bus route is available instead. He proceeded to correct Fortune as soon as he could, and Fortune attempted to shut him down multiple times and suggested “saving this conversation until Thursday”.
Spare, beyond the fact that they were able to sit in on the previous presentation and thus make last minute changes to make themselves look better, was similar to Rideco’s. It was overall the best of the three presentations, with much less focus on data and more focus on the fact that they had already been working in the area. They focused on their existing success with the Collin County Transit program, which is linked to DART, and how they’ve already been involved with the riders in Plano for a while now. They are also just software, no fleet and no other services beyond the app, with their main advantage being that they had worked in the area already.
No one attempted to broach finances this time, committee member Brett Cooper flat out saying that “Until we can receive clear and transparent information from the city, I won’t be asking any more questions”. Member Tod Marvin later echoed the statement. “Every vendor that presented can provide us the services we need if we pay them enough. Without the costs, we can’t make a recommendation.” It became clear to the committee that many of their questions could not be answered by the representatives from the software companies, and began addressing the representatives from Ztrip and Tripps, the people who actually operate the vehicles that the software companies connects you to.
“It’s a transit service at the end of the day, not a taxi service”.
Was one of the things the Spare presenters stated in their closing comments, following it up with a comment on how “fixed routes are the most economical solution”, mentioning how ideally their services would help connect riders to those fixed routes.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what GoLink does. It’s meant to connect riders in between routes and stations, not serve as a taxi or Uber to go wherever whenever. With Via and Spare both saying the same thing about their services, it begs to ask this question again; why are we even bothering to split away from DART, when it continues to sound like whatever service that will replace it will be worse?
The final meeting rolled around with an air of tension.
The room was more crowded than it had been at previous meetings, with new faces from Plano citizens, media, and other interested parties. We started off with a bang, as Brett Cooper made a motion to add DART as the preferred vendor of the committee, Corey Reinaker seconded it.
Phil Dyer and Andrew Fortune of course, did their best to blow past it, claiming that since it was “just an informal committee” they didn’t have the ability to put forward any motions or take votes, but despite the pressed efforts of the city staff, the tone had already been set. The committee was through with being used as a scapegoat for the City of Plano’s lack of planning.
After the committee was silenced, Fortune started off his presentation by showing all the data from the rankings submitted by the committee, one of which was a ranking of the types of riders for fares, including seniors, paratransit, and disabled riders. It was revealed that many committee members just flat out refused to rank certain categories or vendors due to lack of information given. Some submitted written comments about their thoughts on both the categories and the process itself. Fortune’s response to the committee’s actions was akin to a kindergartner who didn’t get their way. Towards the end of the meeting, he called out this behavior directly in response to some upset members of the committee. “So it’s really, it becomes a question of, you know, if members of the committee didn’t want to participate fully in the process. We’re happy to report that back to the council”.
Then, in a shocking turn of events, the chair spoke.
”Brett and the others would like to talk about DART”.
“It’s not reducing who is going to be stranded. You’re asking this committee to choose who gets stranded.” said Brett Cooper in a passionate speech in favor of DART. Fortune however, quickly pivoted the conversation away from DART, aided by other city staff members, almost aggressive in their tone and forcefulness in which they shifted topics.
With Fortune free to continue his explanation on the minimal data collected from the committee, you could feel the room growing tense with every passing moment. As the presentation began to wind down, Cooper once again attempted to get DART on the list of vendors that the committee would be allowed to suggest to the council, attempting to pass out a recommendation letter that he and other committee members had worked on, and the city staff finally reached their breaking point. The swift and aggressive shutdown of the majority of the committee’s attempts to bring DART into the discussion was met with irritated rebuttals from some of the committee, and small arguments broke out across the room. Fortune and other members of city staff told committee chair Phil Dyer that “I don’t think staff would recommend allowing that. That’s not part of the process, wasn’t part of the charge, and is not consistent with what the council’s asking.” The committee silenced once again, Fortune rapidly shifted the meeting into its closing comments section ahead of schedule.
“This is a forced disaster”.
Committee member Adam Kolodny, who commutes all the way from Plano to Fort Worth each day for work, had his own words of dissatisfaction to offer to the city staff and the rest of the committee, commenting that if the city truly felt the need to host a pullout election, they could have called for it to be in November instead of May, allowing for more time to figure out an alternative. “All of these vendors say they need time, they need planning” he pointed out, rightfully worried about the unnecessarily tight timeline.
“So I’ll say this.” commented committee member David Evans, “Throughout this process and going back, even back to the city council meeting, it feels like as a citizen, as a resident, that… there’s a lack of transparency to the citizens”, going on to express his frustration that many of the committee’s questions were not allowed to be asked, let alone answered.
Fortune had his own response to each committee member’s closing comment, including claiming that “If DART would like to provide services to Plano, even if we pull out, they are more than welcome to submit that proposal at that time”, until finally public audience member John Stafford came up to pass along the correct information to a committee member about DART’s inability to place a bid. Fortune instead called him out directly, to which he gleefully corrected Fortune with a simple “What you just said is a lie”. He continued by explaining that DART could only contract with private corporations and not cities themselves, it was a horrifying eye opener that the apparent face of Plano’s campaign to withdraw from DART didn’t know that information.
“The council has made its decision”
With that chilling statement from Fortune, it became abundantly clear that the committee holds no actual weight, and was never meant to. The city has no plan. It was somewhat clear then at that November 4th city council meeting and it is unmistakable now. For all their boasting, all the plans that have been proposed heavily relied on either continued light rail service to Plano, which DART has stated multiple times that light rail is a member city only service, or getting a connection to the rail at the Cityline Bush station in Richardson. Plano complained during the November 4th city council meetings about how it was unfair how non Plano residents would travel into Plano to catch the trains, and yet Plano is not just implying that that’s what they would have their residents do to Cityline, they have outright stated it multiple times!
This city has shown its hand. It cares not for the opinions of the committee, it cares not for its residents. Come May 3rd, should the city vote to pull out of DART, many will be left stranded. And some of us will have to face our lives turning upside down as a result.