Agreement: Ride across Navajo for $1

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — An agreement approved Monday by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee means Navajo Transit System customers soon will be able to ride across the Navajo Nation for $1 a day — for the next two years.

IGR approved the transfer of $700,000 from the $900,000 remaining in the Office of the Speaker capital outlay budget, originally was intended to be used to begin plans and construction for a new legislative complex. The proposed complex has failed to get approval from the Navajo Nation Council.

“You will notice that $1 million was set aside for a legislative building, and the legislative building was shot down a couple times,” Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, sponsor of the legislation, told IGR.

“We’ve been meeting with Navajo Transit System for a number of days,. We’d like to transfer $700,000 into Navajo Transit System so that they can buy possibly three buses. We have a number of buses that are running from Tuba City to Window Rock to Gallup to Farmington, all across the Navajo Nation,” he said.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding, “Whoever has a dollar can jump in from Tuba City, all the way down to Farmington, and then come back in the evening, all for a whole dollar,” Morgan said. “The thinking is it would curtail the gas costs of grandmas and grandpas buying gasoline for $75 going into Gallup.”

The $1-a-day ride also would benefit Navajo Nation employees who commute to work in Window Rock from Gallup, he said.

Rex Lee Jim, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, questioned what was happening with the legislative building.
“I know council voted it down, but we shouldn’t give up on it. We could get a small mobile home. This is a lot of funding,” Jim said.

He suggested that maybe the money should go back to Council. “We also know that certain committees also have a lot of lobbying to do and they still need travel money,” Jim said.

Harriett Becenti liked the plan.

“I think it’s a good idea. I know that Gallup is coming up with some transit. I know that one of them is going to be going down to Lupton,” Becenti said.

Morgan said the legislative building, money for committee travel, and lack of conference rooms are concerns, but they’re also central government issues.

“This here, what we’re doing is we’re sending money out to the communities to have the local people utilize these services that are available to them.” He said the legislative building is not on the back burner. “It’s still in the works and new negotiations will kick in later on.”

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates said one of his concerns is the fare. “You’re only charging $1 for the next two years, so basically these buses, we’re going to be subsidizing them and there’s going to be no profit for the next two years.”

Morgan said the way the transit system operates is through state and federal funding. “We checked with the grantor. The revenue that comes in from the fare is treated as petty cash for the program, so it really doesn’t impact the operations.”

The MOU calls for the $700,000 to be used solely to purchase buses. In exchange, the transit system will provide the $1-a-day flat fare rate for all public transportation services within the Navajo Nation service area for two years on existing bus routes. The transit system will bear all operation costs during the two-year period without requiring further contributions from the Office of the Speaker.