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WRTA keeps its promise, restores night, Sat. service
TweetBy KATIE SEMINARA
The transit service, boosted by two federal grants, is welcoming back eight employees.
YOUNGSTOWN — Night and Saturday services haven’t been available to Western Reserve Transit Authority riders for almost two years, but that changes Monday.
“It feels more like a transit agency again,” said Tom Nugen, director of transportation.
“We’re glad to be in a mode where we’re adding services,” he said.
Starting Monday, six night service routes will be added, as well as Saturday services, Nugen said.
The first Saturday service will be Feb. 7.
Other added routes include the 40-Austintown bus that will go to Wal-Mart on Mahoning Avenue and the 31-Oak bus that will service Campbell and Struthers Liberty Road.
These services are able to start early because of two federal grants the WRTA received, as well as the remainder of the Youngstown property tax, Nugen said.
Besides adding services, the WRTA is welcoming back eight employees, some whom have been laid off since 2005.
The restoration of these services is just the beginning of changes being made by the WRTA.
Countywide services will be ready to roll by September, Nugen said. The countywide services will offer door-to-door operation, suburban cross-town service and express routes to Youngstown State University.
Providing the countywide services will depend on the revenue coming in from the 0.25 percent, five-year sales tax, which was passed in November 2008. The WRTA will not likely see any revenue from the sales tax until the summer, Nugen said.
The WRTA had originally estimated that it would receive about $7 million, but “of course sales tax is based on the economy,” said Nugen, who now estimates closer to $6 million.
“It’s going to open up a lot of opportunity for people in the county,” said Nugen of the September services and the revenue generated from the sales tax.
“With the state of the economy, this will provide people with alternate means of travel,” he said.
The September services will also include fixed routes, which means buses will run more frequently and existing routes will be evaluated and possibly adjusted.
Though it’s going to be a “gradual rolling out of services,” the WRTA is pleased with its progress thus far, Nugen said.
Six new 12-passenger vehicles, which are meant for specialized transportation, will arrive in March. The WRTA is also looking to upgrade mapping software and possibly purchase new radio systems, which will benefit drivers when the countywide service begins, Nugen said.
For more information on newly added services and upcoming services, visit www.wrtaonline.com.
Comments
The only thing hat WRTA has provided me with is a near-death experience when the idiot driver ran a redligt and almost collided with my car.
Maybe they should set aside a little bit of that money for some bus driver education courses -- a lot of the drivers could use them.
Hope to see the smaller bus out on the nighy shift
and when the larger ones arn't needed. In the past seen large busses running around nearly empty
I see quite alot because I'm a cab driver
Suburbs............hold on to your purses!!!!!!!
what abou the rest of the county like New Springfield,Sebring and Lake Milton? Oh,thats' right I don't see any new routes for them but they stil have to pay for it!
This is graeat news for me as a Youngstown investor . It means that when I arrive in Youngstown on February 14, I may (weather permitting ) , be able to get a WRTA bus to my hotel , rather than one of Youngstown's overpriced taxis .
Yeah, and you better hold onto anything valuable with your life, lanacek.
Great, so now our Austintown Walmart can be a place riddled with crime like the Boardman one. You didn't do anybody any favors with your new bus routes, you only brought more crime into our townships.
Oh great. I didn't even think about that one. :(
OK, the WRTA is going to get a $6 million boost, PLUS "two federal grants." How much are the grants for? The WRTA has been, and still is, remarkably unwilling to expose how much money they take in. All they want is more, More, MORE!
Public transportation be damned! We, as taxpayers, provide this entitlement in cities all across America. We cannot even write off anything on our taxes for the cost of gasoline, repairs, etc. on our privately owned vehicles which we must use to get to work in order to EARN the tax dollars to subsidise public transportation. Here's a thought, raise the fares on riders to a level that would cover initial costs,maintenance,insurance,etc. No person that I know recieves any kind of subsidy for personal automobiles.
If they raise the fares, residents of Youngstown will have a more difficult time paying for them. Then we're just gonna be paying for in taxes anyhow to help pay for some other assistance these people are probably getting.
They get us coming and going.
If the Exuc. would take a pay cut as everyone else does ...then service would not need so much federal or state funding . But you dont see them giving up or taking a cut !!!When we see that happen , then we will know that they really do want the service provided to the people
Yeah, well when Mr. WRTA Executive doesn't have a job because the business has failed, I don't wanna be the one footing the taxes so that his family has foodstamps in years to come to survive.
You know, I really enjoy these debates about the WRTA because they are exceedingly effective at exposing the arrogance of those who live outside the Youngstown city limits, a city that most likely either they or their forbears abandoned when THAT person moved into their neighborhood.
“TheLostPatrol”, you act as if you have something to steal. I guess I have to remind you that you live in a declining market, and it is most likely that the only reason you have property is because not many other people in America want to own that property. If you moved your property to another part of the country, almost any other part, you probably couldn’t afford to live in your own home. That would make you the King of the Mole Hill, I suppose. With unemployment rising, I wonder how long you will be able to hold out. How long will you own your precious property? How long will you be able to drive that fancy car that you must own? If you are not careful, and not because of WRTA sales taxes, you may end up having the same problem as the horribly ugly people from the city that you are more than willing to criticize. The economy in the Mahoning Valley is very weak.
Getting back to my main point…..your affluence. If you are the King, why are so many people out of work in your kingdom? Why is the city in its current state? You have property (grand property, I am supposing from the fact that someone is just waiting to steal it). Why can’t you use your grand influence to turn the city around? Why aren’t you mayor or county commissioner? Answer: You only have the capacity to manage that little bit that you have been graciously given because you are too busy thumbing your nose at others and celebrating your grand achievement.
Good for you Little King! You are the grand royalty of such a boom town. I wonder if your kids or other family members had to leave town…..just as I had to leave due to lack of work at a substantial rate of pay. The grand exit of the youth is just another example of your swelling achievement, King. By the way, another reason for me leaving town was the lack of public transportation, a grand example of your benevolence during the previous election, I am sure.
That’s ok! I have great wealth now that I am living in a city with tremendous public transportation and a thriving economy. I won’t be hanging around waiting to steal from you anymore after that entitlement ride on the WRTA…… you don’t own anything I want. :) It is really hard to steal a town that you can be proud of……oh, you don’t own that anyway……..
wrta helps just as much as it hurts....it brings just as many people to work as it does people to loiter and cause ruckus in public places... brings just as many people to buy things in suburbs as it does people to steal things from the suburbs.... they aren't all bad apples, but its safe to say 50 percent are worth looking over your shoulder for. It's fortunate for those who have jobs and dont want to walk market street at night, unfortunate for those who are walking to their cars in shopping center parking lots at night in fear.
This would not make or break are valley if it was ever gone. it's a perk relly or a convience.