ELYRIA — There still won’t be Sunday bus service, but bare-bones Saturday service survived additional cuts to Lorain County Transit approved Thursday by county commissioners.

The transit cuts were less severe than feared two weeks ago, when officials were discussing dealing with an $880,000 shortfall in LCT’s budget.

That changed when President Barack Obama signed an appropriations bill freeing up $400,000 of the $4 million in stimulus money the county had received for building projects and buses. The money can now be used for operating LCT.

The commissioners cut the number of connector routes, limited LCT’s Dial-A-Ride service to within three-quarters of a mile of fixed routes and will shut down bus service earlier on weekdays. Those cuts, along with a decision to eliminate Sunday service and two routes last month, dealt with the budget shortfall, according to officials.

County government has been struggling this year, and the commissioners have already made $6 million in cuts that resulted in more than 75 county employees losing their jobs.

The commissioners have warned that unless county residents vote to make permanent a 0.5 percent sales tax increase that went into effect in April, LCT could be cut even further next year. Saturday service could be eliminated, and the commissioners have even discussed the possibility of ending the service altogether.

Richard Enty, LCT’s interim director, said he’s hopeful that struggling regional transit districts would get additional federal assistance. For instance Cuyahoga County’s Regional Transit Authority is facing a $15 million deficit if nothing is done, he said.

Enty presented the commissioners with a proposal to cut another $436,000 in 2010 if reductions in funding from the state and other sources take place.

The county also has asked various municipalities to begin helping to fund LCT’s approximately $6 million annual budget, most of which comes from state and federal grants.

Commissioner Betty Blair and county Administrator Jim Cordes both complained that the municipalities have been receiving more money from the state over the past few years because of a shift in the county’s population. About $3.5 million that used to go to county government is now divvied among the county’s cities, villages and townships.

“I think it’s time for this community to be collaborative,” Cordes said.

The commissioners also told Cordes to ask federal officials to free up more of the county’s stimulus money to be used to operate LCT.

Commissioner Lori Kokoski asked that the letters include CD copies of emotional testimony during public hearings from transit users.

“They were tearjerkers and heartbreakers,” she said.

Even with the changes, the commissioners said they made some changes that they believe will improve LCT.

Kokoski said she liked the addition of a $5 daily pass, which will allow riders to hop on a variety of buses, do all their errands and go to all of their appointments on the same day.

County Commissioner Ted Kalo lauded the addition of bus service that will help workers at Midway Mall get home after work.

Transit savings

Reducing the number of connector routes by a third: $69,860

• Oberlin connector will operate all weekdays except Fridays.
• Avon/Avon Lake connector will operate all weekdays except Tuesday.
• Amherst connector will operate all weekdays except Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Only providing Dial-A-Ride buses within three-quarters of a mile on either side of an LCT fixed route: $101,846
Ending routes earlier on weekdays: $131,916

• (Routes 1, 2, 3, 31, 52 and 53 will end at 6:30 p.m.; Route 51 will end at 5:30 p.m.; Route 21 will end at 7:30 p.m.)

Eliminating routes on Sundays as well as eliminating Routes 33 & 70 (took place June 1): $162,054

Subtotal: $465,676

Additional costs of adding weekday work access loops: $64,612

• Loops will operate weekdays between 7 and 11 p.m. originating from the Midway Mall transfer point. These loops will start from the mall at 7 p.m. Loop “L” will depart the mall transfer point at 7 p.m. and go north following the existing Route No. 2 to the Meridian Plaza via the West Erie Avenue loop taken by Route 42. It will turn south from West Erie onto Leavitt Road and go along state Route 58 to Super Kmart.  It will leave eastbound from Super Kmart along the Cooper Foster Roar and North Ridge Road portions of the Route 31 loop and return to the mall transfer point.
• Loop “E,” also departing from the mall transfer point, will have one bus alternate between two existing alignments — Routes 51 and 53 — with one trip as 51 and the next trip as 53.  A second bus also will depart the transfer point at 7 p.m. — the 52E —and follow the Route 52 loop.
• From 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., the loops will revert to Dial-A-Ride operation and drop people off at their homes, using one bus for each loop.  ADA Dial-A-Ride service, as required by federal law, will remain in operation until 10 p.m. with a single bus.

Cost savings: $401,064

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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