Editorial: Leaving MVTA makes sense

Talk about it

Everybody knows you can’t get something for nothing. But Rosemount City Council members said Tuesday they’re tired of getting nothing for something.

There was no decision this week but council members appeared ready to end the city’s relationship with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, effective in 2010. They said they’re tired of paying into the system and having little or nothing to show for it.

Rosemount has been a member of the MVTA since the organization formed in 1991 and contributed roughly $700,000 in 2007. But Rosemount has just a single bus route to Minneapolis to show for it. And that route is inconvenient and does not appear heavily used. It provides two buses in the morning. Both leave the city before 7 a.m. and take riders to a station in Apple Valley before bringing them downtown. That can make for a long commute.

All other MVTA cities have at least one transit station, but MVTA executive director Beverley Miller told council members Tuesday there are no plans to bring improved transit to the district anytime soon. She asked the city to be patient.

Basically, “Trust us.”

But council members are tired of waiting and it’s hard to blame them. Rosemount residents are paying a lot of money each year into a system that gives them little to no benefit and that holds little promise of improving.

Rosemount residents could drive to Apple Valley to board the bus, but that’s far from ideal.

There may come a time when it makes sense for Rosemount to be an active member of the MVTA. When the city’s population has grown to the point it needs a transit station and direct routes to the Twin Cities. But that time clearly is not here yet and until it comes it makes little sense for Rosemount residents to keep paying in.

They’ve already paid more than their fair share.

Tags: opinion, leaving, mvta, sensible