TRUMBULL TRANSIT Plan hasn't left the station

About $2.56 million in federal transit money was available for the Valley this year.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Specifics of a plan to implement a countywide transportation system remain unclear, but it's not a simple process.
"It's not easy to set up a public transit system," said John Getchey, director of Eastgate Council of Regional Governments.
Mayor Ralph A. Infante Jr., who has spearheaded the project, has declined to discuss a transportation plan until details are firm. Getchey said he doesn't know any details of the plan Infante has in mind.
Warren officials have said the transit system would serve the general public as well as senior citizens and the disabled in Niles and Warren. City, county and Eastgate officials met last week with officials from the Federal Transit Administration.
Criteria: Getchey said the federal officials listed the criteria that must be met to get federal money for a transportation system.
Federal criteria include local funding, a security policy and plans to meet Americans with Disabilities Act and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requirements.
"You have to certify that you have all of those things and then the FTA comes in to check to make sure you have all of those things," Getchey said.
All of the federal transit money available for Mahoning and Trumbull counties, about $2.56 million this year, is going to Western Reserve Transit Authority in Youngstown, but that organization operates only a fixed-route system in Trumbull County.
Last year, Trumbull County applied for about $600,000 of the federal transit money to operate Trumbull Area Coordinated Transportation, but the application was turned down because the county hadn't met the qualifications to receive the federal money.
Urban areas: Getchey said the amount of FTA money earmarked for the area is determined by a formula that considers population density in designated urban areas. Trumbull County's designated urban areas are portions of Warren, Niles and Girard, he said.
"Right now the only designated entity to receive federal transit money is WRTA because they've met all of those criteria," Getchey said.
If they don't use all of the money allocated for the area, it goes to communities outside of the Mahoning Valley, he said.
Warren City Council voted earlier this month to give up the city's federal designation to receive mass transportation funds. That allows Niles to develop and operate a transit system.
Warren and WRTA were designated in 1975 to receive federal transit money to service Youngstown and Warren. Warren, which hasn't applied for federal funding since then, initially ceded its designation to Trumbull County commissioners.
Commissioners returned the designation to the city when they decided at the end of last year not to renew a contract with TACT.