START wants “cost-neutral” routes, but only if drivers can afford to live here

If START cannot house the people who drive the buses, we do not get the new routes, period. On Thursday, the START Board will discuss how to implement its new transit network in a “cost neutral” way that is explicitly contingent on securing employee housing for operators, the same barrier staff calls the biggest obstacle to making the redesign real. See: START Board Regular Meeting Agenda Packet.

In the packet, staff lays out two paths and the difference is basically: pay now, or wait for housing. The full service version would require 4 to 6 additional full-time, year-round operators and is estimated to cost about $2 million in the first year, which is a nonstarter if there is nowhere for those workers to live. The “Scenario 2” approach is framed as cost neutral, putting the new route map in place while keeping miles, hours, and staffing flat, then scaling up service later as housing and staffing become available. What I will be watching is whether the board asks for a real, dated housing plan (who provides units, how many, by when) or keeps treating housing like a vague prerequisite that somehow appears before FY28.