Saturday, July 17, 1999
Grants make transportation easier
Middletown, Butler County get state money
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
State grants awarded to Middletown and Butler County public transit services this week will help ensure transportation options for thousands of residents, and provide employers access to a larger labor pool.
Butler County Transit Authority got $300,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT) Ohio Public Transportation Grant Program (OPTGP). The money will be used to help pay for the eight new buses on order, and for operating costs, said Amy Terango, executive director.
Middletown Transit System's $101,482 will be used for operating costs, maintenance and for the wheelchair van service, said Steve Murphy, public service manager.
Fifty-six urban and rural public transit systems in the state will get a share of the $29 million OPTGP funds this year, said Bob Young, ODOT public information officer in Columbus. Butler County and Middletown are the only two entities in Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont or Clinton counties to be awarded funds.
Since 1973 ODOT has awarded more than $500 million in public transportation funding to communities statewide.
Butler County's service was launched in May with the help of 10 old 10-passenger buses donated to the county from Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority. New buses are needed, Ms. Terango said.
Federal funds will pay the bulk of the $1.65 million cost for the eight 22-passenger buses. But the state grant is essential to help offset costs and annual expenses.
“So many people already depend on this service,” Ms. Terango said. “We average about 450 trips weekly. It gives them transportation options they haven't had before.
Many of our riders have not had the ability to get to work until we got started because they had no transportation. They need this option. It also gives businesses access to the labor that they've needed.”
Without grants funds, the service, provided five days a week, 6 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 7 p.m., would not exist, Ms. Terango said.
“Transportation is an expensive service, and for a community to pay all the costs is not feasible,” she said.
About 50 percent of the system's estimated $1.5 million annual budget will come from the federal government, with the remainder after state grants and revenue from fares being paid by the participating enti ties — Butler County, Hamilton and Fairfield, Ms. Terango said.
Mr. Murphy said the ODOT grant is equally important to Middletown's system, which provides about 210,000 rides annually on an estimated $750,000 budget.
The system, which has six buses and a wheelchair van, has gotten an estimated $100,000 ODOT grant annually since it began, Mr. Murphy said. Federal grants cover about 50 percent of annual costs, about 15 percent comes from state grants and the balance from the city and from fares.
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