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Reduce bus services or raise fares? |
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 |
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By Debbie Murphy
Register Corrospondent 7-5-2008
Faced with reductions in the Dial-A-Ride program, Walker and Bishop residents would rather pay higher fares in order to maintain current service levels.
It wasn’t really a matter of wanting to pay more, but of being able to accept up to an additional 50 cents on top of the current $2 fare, according to Eastern Sierra Transit Authority (ESTA) board member Jeff Griffiths. Testimony from Walker residents was taken at a public outreach meeting at the Senior Center Tuesday; Bishop’s session was held the following day. “This is a valuable service for both the elderly and the disabled,” said Griffiths. “It’s in high demand and already strained at the current level.”
The proposed reduction in service for Bishop was from six buses to five a day; Walker’s Dial-a-Ride would have been reduced from five days a week to three. Dial-A-Ride is much like a taxi service, providing door-to-door transportation in handicapped accessible buses.
ESTA has already cut the fixed route from Walker to Bishop on Monday, the two-day-a-week fixed route from Lone Pine to Keeler and the Mountain Express connecting Mammoth, June Lake and Lee Vining. Alternative service is available through the authority’s Crest Routes that run from Mammoth to Ridgecrest three days a week and Bishop to Reno four days a week.
The cuts came in the face of low ridership on those routes as well as a $107,000 budget shortfall, four percent of the total annual $2.75 million ESTA budget. The shortfall was a combination of a $60,000 reduction in state funding to the Mono County local transit board and the recent unprecedented increases in gas prices. “It’s ironic that transportation funding is diminishing at a time when ridership and demand is growing,” said board member Byng Hunt.
The next step, according to ESTA executive director John Helm, is an analysis of a fare increase, then a public hearing and board decision on the final proposal.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 August 2008 )
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