Daily Report kicked off the week with an exclusive story on the Capital Area Transit System and the goals it has under a new strategic plan, including replacing 11 buses, constructing four new transit hubs and building additional bus shelters.
To achieve those goals, the public bus system says it will need as much as $11 million in additional funds over the next 18 months. The new strategic plan was discussed at a CATS board retreat held last week.
Though voters in 2012 passed a dedicated, 10-year millage to create a long-term funding source for the bus system and address many of its long-term problems, CATS spokeswoman Amie McNaylor says the $16 million a year generated by the property tax is not enough to take care of CATS’ current capital needs.
“A big piece of what was campaigned on in 2012 was the system expansion that we delivered in March of 2014—growing the routes from 20 to 30, making changes to existing routes and creating transfer systems around town,” McNaylor says. “With that we increased our service by 40%, so a lot of the additional tax dollars have gone to fund the increased service.”
CATS, whose total budget for 2015 is $27 million, will not seek additional tax dollars to help fund the capital needs in its strategic plan. Rather, the agency will try to cobble together funds from a combination of grants and loans.
A day after news of the additional funding needs was reported, Daily Report obtained new customer satisfaction survey results suggesting regular CATS riders are growing increasingly unhappy with the service. According to the survey, the number of customers who would recommend the CATS bus to a neighbor or friend is far outweighed by those who would not recommend the public transit system.
In the latest survey, only 30% of the 515 respondents rated CATS service highly enough to be considered promoters, while 41% fell into the detractor category.
“We are disappointed with the results of the survey,” says CATS CEO Bob Mirabito. “We must improve how we serve our customers. We are working at the agency to provide tools to improve our customer service on the bus and at our call center. We will be conducting another survey in the fall and hope to see a marked improvement in our performance.”
Also this week, Our Lady of the Lake released new renderings and details about its long-planned Children’s Hospital, which will be located on a 60-acre tract of hospital-owned property that runs parallel to Interstate 10 between Essen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard.
As currently envisioned, the Children’s Hospital will include inpatient beds, an emergency room, a surgical unit and a dedicated hematology/oncology unit that will be affiliated with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.
The hospital says it is getting ready to submit plans to the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission that will detail the proposed project, which could break ground by December. See a rendering of the Children’s Hospital.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other top local stories making headlines in Daily Report this week:
- It’s not clear how many interested investors submitted bids to acquire Perkins Rowe earlier this summer. What is known is that the owners of the mixed-use development did not accept any offers in the first round of bidding, which closed June 30, and have opened the process for a second round of bids.
- The Super 8 hotel at 10451 Reiger Road, just off Interstate 10 at the Siegen Lane intersection, has traded hands for $3.2 million. AASTHA LLC, whose registered agent is Anilkumar Patel, purchased the hotel from Dakshaben and Anilkumar D. Desai.
- From art to industrial purposes, LSU chemistry professor John Pojman has developed a new multiuse polymer product that he’s now preparing to distribute internationally in Canada, Mexico and Australia through his company, Pojman Polymer Products.
- Fitness startup Apex Resistance and Conditioning has invented what co-founder Adrian Cornish refers to as “the world’s first wearable gym,” a pair of futuristic-looking shorts paired with resistance bands dubbed the Bionic Resistance Shorts. Cornish and co-founder Nathan Roy launched sales of the $99.99 shorts three weeks ago out of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center at the LSU Innovation Park. So far, they’ve sold about 60 pairs with essentially no marketing beyond a website.
- Christian Walther and Trey Bacon have four businesses between them, and they’re about to add a fifth: a new food truck specializing in barbecue called Red White and Que. They’re planning on rolling out their new food truck on the streets of Baton Rouge in the next couple of weeks.
- Thai Kitchen will move from its current location in the Southdowns Shopping Center on Perkins Road to the former location of Phil’s Oyster Bar at 4550 Concord Ave. Thai Kitchen owners Kiatisak Sanguanrung and Punnee Arsanathong recently purchased the restaurant space for $625,000, or about $104.16 per square foot.
—Steve Sanoski
