Transit Authority Increases Shared-Ride Services

The Board of Directors of Town and Country Transit reviewed financial documents as well as heard fixed- and shared-route changes Wednesday afternoon.

by Jonathan Weaver

Some south Armstrong County residents may get to see some local transit authority buses for the first time in years after a recent adjustment.

Town and Country Transit Authority announced yesterday that drivers now offer shared-route services to residents closer to the county-line, including areas such as Apollo, Leechburg and Vandergrift.

General Manager Patti Lynn Baker said the authority was initially responsible for the area long ago, but the region was subcontracted.

‘We’ve always been there – the decision to take those trips back was because, honestly, it’s a good business decision,” Baker said. “They should have been ours for 17 years.”

Baker and Operations Manager Gerry Miller did not know why the routes were not utilized by Mid-County Transit Authority, the apartment’s legal name.

Drivers take residents on local trips, such as to beauty salons, the post office and shopping malls within ten miles of their home, as opposed to out-of-town trips.

The route service was effective July 1.

Open Records Officer Tami Simon said many of the trips are handled by the authority itself rather than other agencies.

“It’s doubled – almost tripled,” Simon said. “And we’ll have up to 48-50 trips down there daily.”

Baker said the authority expects to make approximately 350-400 trips per month to the southern region.

In other news, after some federal reshuffling of dollars, the authority looks to add to its shared ride/Persons with Disabilities fleet.

With $205,000 left over from last year, the transit authority looks to purchase some new vehicles for riders, including some 7-passenger vans that can also transport wheelchair-ridden riders.

“With last year’s money, we’re going to be able to replace two vehicles and add three vehicles to our fleet, which would be a great addition for us here and better provide service to our constituents,” Baker said.

Miller said the vehicles will be well-used.

“We need the maneuverability because we’re going up driveways, so it’s a little tougher in a cut-away than it would be in these vans,” Miller said. “A 7-passenger is a lot easier than a 16-passenger.”

Miller also expects to see fuel savings from using the vans.

“I expect to see substantial fuel savings as well,” Miller said.

Besides the trips that were added to the service, two late-night fixed-route shuttles were eliminated because of lack of participation, said Baker.

“They weren’t very well ridden,” Baker said. “We shuffled some things around during the day to make those more productive, as well.”

The routes were cut effective July 11. Miller said he has not received any negative feedback after the shuttles were cut.

Bus service now concludes at 10:30PM.

TACT PwD Program Continues Success

by Jonathan Weaver

A local transportation program keeps rolling along this month.

At the June meeting, Operations Manager Gerry Miller said the Rural Transportation for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) program within Town and Country Transit (TACT) is still picking up riders after nearly two years.

“To date, the PwD program is alive and going well. We currently have 222 people that are on our roster, which when we first started the program, PennDOT said you probably won’t have 50,” Miller said.

Miller thanked Progressive Workshop Executive Director Len Meneely, staff at Family Counseling Center and Disability Investigative Group Founder Bill Tatters for spreading the word on the program, and said many more riders are expected.

“This 222 was May’s figure, so we added probably 7-8 people in June. It seems to be anywhere from 10-15 people a month, so it’s great,” Miller said. “In May, we provided a total of 375 rides to 50 different customers – 122 of them work-related trips, so we’re transporting people to work and more than just medical appointments,” Miller said.

Rides were also made to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania – Northpointe campus, shopping centers and community colleges.

While TACT leaders are busy maintaining the program, they are also discussing some possible changes with PennDOT officials.

Miller explained.

“There’s going to be some minor changes coming up – some of our service area is being cut,” Miller said. “We’re still gonna be in Armstrong County, but some of the longer trips are going to have to go away.”

General Manager Patti Lynn Baker said the changes will also promote more efficiency within the PwD program and explained to approximately 10 community residents Tuesday.

“The shared-ride program includes the PwD program, and that was last fiscal year, from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. Basically, we have to make the program more efficient,” Baker said. “We used to have restrictions about where we went – we used to go to Pittsburgh, but only certain zip codes – and we also used to only go certain days, usually Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“This way, we will be able to plan our trips more efficiently, thereby cutting our expenses, so it will basically help to ensure that the services are here for a long time, and that’s what we want to do – be able to be here and offer the service to the residents of Armstrong County,” Baker said.

No timetable was said on when those changes would be made, but Miller told the Kittanning Paper that it would be notified if and when routes are altered.