Don’t like that bus route that makes too many stops on its way to your destination?

Hate the fact that traffic is always jammed on a particular corridor, and there aren’t enough public transportation options?

Want to publicly talk about whether the funding that would repair roads should go elsewhere?

Now’s your chance.

Tonight the Lathrop City Council will meet at 7 p.m. to discuss the unmet transit needs currently affecting customers in the community. It is a yearly agenda item mandated by the State of California’s Transportation Development Act designed to examine what can be done to either mitigate the impacts or alleviate them altogether.

And sometimes that means thinking outside of the box.

With guidance from the San Joaquin Council of Governments the council will decide whether the city’s transit needs are adequately met to determine whether Local Transportation Funds – which are distributed through the State of California – are eligible to be used for non-transit purposes such as street repairs and roadway projects.

Shuffling the money back towards projects have left a noticeable impact on the community.

Aside from providing transit projects, the money can also be used for road and street projects and pedestrian and bicycle projects – examples of which include the city’s road maintenance and repair program, the traffic calming program, the city sidewalk repair program and most recently the Lathrop Road grade separation and Thomsen Road improvements.

Determinations from Monday’s public hearing will be entered into the record and complied with other findings from throughout the county. The only way that the city can continue to receive the funds that have made the improvement projects possible is to make sure all other transit goals and needs are met.

Last year there were no official comments or recommendations from the public, so the distribution of funds continued on the same path as from the previous year. Suggestions from the public that qualify as unmet transit needs must be determined as “reasonable” for them to be considered, and the ultimate decision will be up the SJCOG..