Warren Express was a God-send

By NANCY HOGUE HOMLITAS
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
During the past year, I often rode a Western Reserve Transit Authority bus to work. The last time I took WRTA's Warren Express was March 30. According to local news reports, state funds are insufficient to continue the service.
I share a car with a family member. To avoid buying another vehicle, riding the bus to the Trumbull County Educational Service Center in Niles was an economical alternative. Many local commuters ride the bus because they have no choice.
During my final ride from Warren's northwest end to the intersection of Routes 46 and 422 in Niles, a woman with a knee brace and crutches boarded with a man. He put 2 in the fare box and requested two transfers. Fare is 1.25 and transfers are a quarter for adults. The driver asked for an additional dollar.
Each glanced desperately at the other and performed "the pat" for more money. Apparently they didn't have a dollar between the two of them. "What do you need?" I asked, eager to "pay it forward." I asked that question two more times during my commute.
The needy aren't the only ones who used the crucial service the Warren Express provided. I chatted with passengers who will forever remain nameless to me, but I came to know their reason for using public transportation.
Many rode the bus to work. A phlebotomy technician said that he took the bus every day so his wife, a stay-at-home mother, could use the family van. He said that it also gave him time to pray the rosary.
On a particularly frigid morning, a fast food employee with a chronic limp told me, "It takes me an hour to walk the two miles to Courthouse Square to catch the bus to my job in Niles." When he sat next to me, I could feel his cold aura through the heat of the bus.
Another random commuter took the bus to Youngstown when the weather was bad to avoid driving to work in hazardous conditions. Others, who worked for or attended Youngstown State University, were regulars.
One woman toted laundry to a Laundromat weekly, because it was "much cheaper than taking a taxi." A disabled man in a wheelchair and his father apparently visited someone on the opposite side of town on certain days of the week. Shoppers from the Eastwood Mall area typically waited anywhere on Youngstown-Warren Road in Niles to flag down the bus for a lift.
A YSU senior paid the student rate of just 75 cents to ride the bus when her car needed repaired. After her car was returned, she continued riding the bus. She said that she didn't have to pay for a YSU parking pass or gas during her final semester at school. She wished that she had discovered the service when she was a freshman.
Pep talks
There were some extraordinary people who rode the Warren Express. A bumper factory worker transplanted from Columbus sometimes would give a YSU student pep talks about the benefits of staying in school.
An engineering student without a driver's license often took advantage of the extra study time he had as a passenger. The 18-year-old had emigrated from Israel five years ago. He said that he had lived in other areas of the United States, but preferred living here.
"When I played soccer in Michigan, even my own teammates were rude to me," he said. "Here people are more accepting."
A recently retired army veteran, who did not yet have a car, lamented missing his military career. He said he loved serving his country wherever needed and would not hesitate returning to the Middle East. His sincerity was touching.
Many passengers never conversed; others forged friendships. A woman who worked at Reese Teleservices always entered the bus with a cheery, "Hi, everybody!" And exited chirping, "Now you all have a nice day!"
The Warren Express bus drivers added to the charm of public transportation. Some were gregarious and I knew them by their first names. Others remained business-like.
Lorenzo welcomed passengers with civility, helpfulness and warmth. Fun-loving Shirley once told me that she was late picking me up because she had to wait for a family of ducks to pass in front of her bus in the Kent State Trumbull Branch parking lot. She said she tried to shoo them away, but they aggressively chased her back into the bus. Darien was unbelievably prompt. At 7:15 a.m. his bus was at my stop on the corner of Mahoning Avenue and Dunstan Road neither early nor late.
Riding the bus is reminiscent of sitting on a front porch. You can become acquainted with your neighbors by exchanging greetings when they pass by. You can also read, daydream, or doze. The pace is slower.
Unless lawmakers find funds to reinstate the Warren Express route from Youngstown to Champion, the Warren community has lost a gem.
Nancy Hogue Homlitas lives in Warren, works in Niles and does freelance writing.