YOUNGSTOWN Weather lends hand in WRTA renovation

Renovations to the inside of WRTA's Federal Station will be addressed in January.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- All of WRTA's Federal Station facilities will reopen Dec. 21 if paving is completed by Monday, as planned, reported James J. Ferraro, executive director.
Ferraro gave a progress report on capital improvements during WRTA's monthly board meeting Thursday afternoon.
Unseasonably warm weather allowed renovations to parking areas and sidewalks at the downtown Youngstown station, begun in September, to progress smoothly, he said. Wrought iron railing is yet to be installed, he added. Renovations to the inside of the facility will be addressed in the new year. WRTA renovated one side of the station's exterior at a time to allow operations to continue out of the other half.
Ridership: Continuing an upward trend, ridership in November increased 16 percent over November 2000 -- 112,629 riders compared to 97,068, Ferraro said. Adult ridership was up 16 percent, senior ridership 8 percent and student ridership 44 percent.
"It was not quite the 5,000 riders per day like last month," Ferraro said, referring to the significant increase in ridership in October 2001 over October 2000. "But we had 650 more riders per day over the same time last year."
Mechanical repairs: In other news, Ferraro reported that a problem with several of WRTA's newest buses was corrected. Apparently, torque pressure was not adjusted properly, causing eight of 22 buses to lose oil pressure plugs in their first two weeks of operation. In the six months before those buses were put into service, only three of the initial 19 new buses lost oil plugs.
Seats also were replaced -- at no cost -- on five special service units. The replacements were made after several riders complained about the seats being too slippery, which could be a safety issue, Ferraro said.
Marianne Vaughn, secretary treasurer, reported that Dingus and Daga, an accounting firm based in Shaker Heights, submitted the lowest bid to conduct WRTA's annual audit. The company's bid was $90,610, compared to $129,630 from the other bidder, Youngstown-based Cohen & amp; Co.
Dingus and Daga's was about $5,500 lower than what WRTA currently is paying Deloitte & amp; Touche for this year's annual audit, Vaughn said. "We'll recommend that Dingus and Daga be awarded the contract."
kubik@vindy.com