SMART and its General Manager have told so many half-truths that they are hard to count--and what is really sad is that the board tries to cover for him (Zane and Rabbitt for instance).
To name just a few:
1. That SMART has the capability to reduce traffic on 101 during the commute period. YEP, they can take about 4 % of cars off the freeway at any given time- no one will notice.
2. Mansourian's statements have consistently been shown to be far from accurate. He seems to have trouble telling the truth. These new figures substantiate this.
3. Julia Gonzalez, a SMART employee will always come up with an excuse for her boss being wrong. She is the "fixer."
4. For the past year SMART has claimed ridership was growing: Fact is that they had 15,600 FEWER passengers in 2018 than in 2017, their first year.
5. "SMART repeatedly refused to release the figures, claiming the agency did not break out daily or weekly passenger totals commonly reported by other transit systems.
This claim was made repeatedly by the General Manager; he stated many times over the past year that the figures were unavailable. Yet the P.D. persevered and now the figures suddenly become available.
The public needs to look very carefully at the new information on passenger counts and on the constant fabrication of lies that SMART employees have given out AND that the Board has allowed. It is obvious that the SMART Board of Directors have allowed lies and misstatement to be the rule of the day.
NOW is the time to $TOP $MART.
Carefully consider the elected officials who serve on the SMART Board when their re-election comes about. They are certainly part of the problem.
VOTE NO on any more money down the drain. STOP the Train!