RGRTA CEO Mark Aesch Gets 15% Raise

The Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority Board of Commissioners decided last Wednesday that its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Aesch, will receive a fifteen percent pay raise. His annual salary will increase from $155,000 to $178,250. John Doyle, Jr., Chair of the RGRTA Board, stated that the raise was appropriate because Aesch was underpaid. He went on to note that Aesch’s new salary still lags behind that of heads of comparable-sized transit authorities.

Wow, money is burning a hole in RGRTA’s pockets, and they want to spend it fast! First, they want to spend $50 million on the Transit Center on Mortimer Street, then, Mark Aesch gets a $23,250 raise, plus more, counting his incentives and bonuses.

While Aesch is “underpaid”, people with disabilities who use Lift Line, RGRTA’s paratransit service, are being overcharged. Lift Line users are charged two dollars each way, twice what fixed-route users are charged for an average ride of 3-20 miles. If a Lift Line rider needs same-day service, or needs a ride to what is known as the supplemental service area (an area beyond ¾ of a mile on either side of the fixed-route service line), that fare is $6.00 plus the distance-based fare. It doesn’t matter how close you are to the line, either. The residents of Stonewood Village Apartments in Henrietta are 600 feet from a bus stop, yet they are in Lift Line’s supplemental service area.

Let me put it to you this way: If I decide on the spur of the moment that I want to do some window shopping at Eastview Mall, in suburban Victor, I’d get on the bus and buy an all-day pass for $3.00. That would take care of transfers, as well as my return trip home. My friends who use Lift line would have to schedule the trip three days in advance to get the requested travel time, and pay an average of $8.00. If they live in the supplemental service area, the fare jumps to $20.00. If they were lucky enough to book a same-day ride, that would cost an average of $20.00 for a regular ride, and $32.00 for those in the supplemental service area! If you think that is unfair, remember that most people with disabilities live on a fixed income, usually from SSI, which is about $750.00 per month. Even for those of us who work, and use Lift Line, that is a hefty price to pay just to window shop! And the costs are the same, no matter how urgent and unavoidable the trip may be.

For at least three years, RGRTA has reported a budget surplus, even in these times of government budget woes. In 2008, it decreased fixed-route bus fares, from $1.25 to $1.00. While Lift Line fares were reduced as well, they were not reduced to pre-1991 levels, as the fixed-route service was. When Lift Line users complained about this to Mr. Aesch at a town hall meeting, his response was to accuse them of wanting free service.

RGRTA could have taken the $23,250 used for Aesch’s pay raise and eliminated the six dollar fare on over 3600 supplemental service area rides. It could have added almost 600 Lift Line trips to offset denied rides. These improvements to Lift Line service can still happen to help meet the transit needs of seniors and people with disabilities. After all, RGRTA has a big surplus, right? Besides, just because Mark Aesch is called “underpaid” doesn’t mean that Lift Line users should be overcharged!