Baton Rouge bus rides won’t be more expensive after all.
 
Baton Rouge’s Capitol Area Transit System, better known as CATS, will not reduce services or raise fares, the Baton Rouge Metro Council voted Wednesday night.
 
The Council rejected plans proposed by the system’s leadership in what CATS CEO Brian Marshall called “a desperate attempt to save money” by a margin of 7-5.
 
The issue drew a crowd of concerned citizens that packed the Council chambers to the walls.
 
Marshall hotly defended the plan to the council.
 
“We don’t want to cut these services,” he said. “We don’t want to leave these people out to dry. But we just don’t have enough money.”
 
CATS faces a budget deficit of $1.2 million. Marshall said that without the cuts, CATS will likely run out of funds entirely by the end of the year. Voters rejected a tax increase that would have better funded CATS in October.
 
Debate over the decision dominated the proceedings, eliciting heated exchanges between Council members.
 
Council members who voted against the proposed changes argued that reducing services would cause the parish’s least wealthy citizens to lose their jobs because they rely on the system to get to work.
 
“When you look at who should bear the burden, the government has much stronger shoulders,” said Councilwoman Tara Wicker, to loud applause from the audience. “I would rather us as a government bear that burden as opposed to putting it on the citizens.”
 
Council members voting to accept the cuts argued it was fiscally irresponsible to continue funding CATS without a dedicated source of revenue.
 
“Are we basically just going to keep funding this and hope we can come up with some money?” demanded Councilman Mike Walker.
 
Several Council members criticized East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden, who supported the proposal, for not moving money from his city-parish budget to fund the transit system.
 
Holden said he wouldn’t move money the Council had already allotted for his budget.
 
The debate drew strong reactions from the packed crowd. Onlookers audibly booed speakers supporting the proposal and cheered loudly for speakers against it.
 
 
 
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]