The defining characteristic between oppressed societies and free societies is how the government views the people. Around 230 years ago this country was formed such that the government was for the benefit of the people. This was in stark contrast to the many governments that existed at the time and in history that viewed the people as existing for the benefit of the government. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is an example of a government agency that views people as existing for the government’s benefit.

The MTD is governed by a board that is appointed by the Champaign County Board. These appointments are not meant to provide geographic representation, and appointments are likely given as political favors. As such, the MTD board is an unrepresentative and unaccountable body. They can raise the property tax they charge at will, and they can annex other areas and charge additional people property tax at will.

In addition, they are subsidized by mandatory student fees. In fact, a large majority of their income comes from tax dollars and student fees. At the end of the day, only a very small amount of their revenue comes from people who actually voluntarily pay for their service.

Last year the MTD annexed southwest Champaign and tried to annex Savoy in a bid to extend its boundaries to the Iowa border. Annexing those areas would allow the MTD to demand payment from property owners by assessing an additional property tax. In neither case were those areas asked if they wanted MTD service. In fact, in both cases they clearly appeared to not want MTD service.

Southwest Champaign put a referendum on the ballot this March asking the voters if they wanted to create their own transit district and the MTD actually fought to remove the question from the ballot. That’s right, a government agency fought against letting people have a say before charging them a mandatory tax. The message was clear, “shut up and pay up.”

In the case of Savoy, they agreed to a two-year truce. After the truce was negotiated, the executive director of MTD went to the state legislature to attempt to get a law passed that would make it illegal for a city like Savoy to form their own transit district, thus allowing MTD to annex Savoy and prevent them from forming their own district to avoid it.

MTD likes to brag over their ridership numbers, but it is safe to say most of these numbers come from students riding a few blocks around campus or the shuttles from the parking lot to campus. In fact, low ridership is a characteristic feature of the non-campus routes with the possible exceptions of the morning rush into campus and the evening rush out of campus.

Among the other items of waste by the MTD is the 2.1-million-dollar satellite positioning system of buses to provide “real-time estimates” of when buses would arrive. Presumably this is where those signs above the bus stop on Green Street came from. Is it really worth 2.1 million dollars to figure out when the next bus that runs every five minutes will get there? Then there is the small matter of the executive director’s travel expenses, some $43,000 in 2003.

The MTD is a local example of a government agency providing a service few people want and then extracting money for it. Instead of providing a service people will use and subsidize, they run empty buses and annex unwilling residents to pay for it. If the MTD provides lousy service, you have no recompense. If you don’t want the MTD service, you can count on the MTD fighting against you having a voice in the matter. This is what happens when you have a government agency that views people as resources to be exploited. The best solution would be to privatize this service that should have never been run by the government in the first place.

John Bambenek is a graduate student and academic professional at the University. His column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at [email protected].