Are Randolph transportation costs too high for this area?

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July 21, 2010

Larry Penkava Staff Writer The Randolph Guide Wed Jul 21, 2010, 10:23 AM EDT

ASHEBORO — Transportation costs in Randolph County are well above the recommended percentage of household income.

Brent McKinney of the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) told the Randolph County Board of Commissioners at its July meeting Monday that “we’re out of line with our expense in transportation.”

For a typical county resident, transportation costs account for nearly 27 percent of income, well above the recommended 15 percent.

On the positive side, housing costs for county residents are well below the recommended 30 percent of income. In the Asheboro area, the average is 19.7 percent of income on housing and 24.9 percent on transportation, according to figures McKinney provided from government statistics.

A look at annual household gasoline expense showed that Randolph County families spent more than $4,700 on filling their tanks. McKinney said that figure could be below $4,000 now since gasoline prices have moderated since the study.

Of the eight counties associated with PART, Randolph ranked next to last behind Stokes County in housing costs as a percentage of income. That number was 24.84 percent. At the same time, Randolph was second behind Stokes in transportation costs at 26.9 percent.

Adding housing and transportation together, McKinney showed that Randolph residents spend 51.74 percent of their income on those necessities. That’s more than 6 percent above what’s recommended.

McKinney said he gleaned all the information from the Web site www.cnt.org. He said CNT also developed the Transit Access Index (TAI), a measure of transit availability for given regions.

TAI looks at the number of bus routes and train stations within walking distance – about one-half mile – for households.

For Randolph County, the opportunity for transit service within walking distance is a mere 0.4 percent.

“There’s very little opportunity to use public transportation in Randolph County,” said McKinney.

He said the Piedmont Triad needs to find ways to improve that statistic.

McKinney said PART buses continue to grow in ridership, with about 40,000 per month or 2,000 daily. He said ridership tends to fluctuate in relation to the price of gasoline.

In other business, the board:

n Welcomed Melissa Johnson as the new director of the county Board of Elections. Johnson comes to Asheboro from Charlotte-Mecklenburg, where she was deputy clerk to the board of commissioners. Prior to that she served Guilford County for 15 years as public information officer.

“I’m glad to be back home,” Johnson told the commissioners. “I’ve been trying to get back here for a while.”

- Passed resolutions honoring the Eastern Randolph and Southwestern Randolph high school state champion softball teams.

Eastern won the school’s first softball state title, winning the 2A championship. Southwestern won its fourth softball championship, taking the 3A crown.

- Received the annual settlement report from Debra Hill, tax administrator. Hill reported that overall collection for the 2090-2010 fiscal year was at 98.51 percent.

That’s a bit below last year’s 98.57 but Hill blamed the decrease on the economic conditions. The motor vehicle tax collection rate was 88 percent.

- Accepted the 2011 Randolph County classification plan presented by Stacy Griffin.

- Voted to pass a resolution in celebration of the 100th birthday of Charlesanna Fox, retired director of the county Public Library system from 1949 to 1977. Her birthday is Aug. 4.

- Set Sept. 7 as the date of the next commissioners meeting.

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