Forums to address transportation needs of public

YOUNGSTOWN — Regional planners want to hear ideas from the public on how to coordinate public transportation services in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys across county and state lines.

To get input from public transit riders, business and social service agency representatives and others interested in identifying public transit needs and gaps in service, they’ve scheduled three public forums, two Wednesday and the third Thursday.

“People don’t care where the county boundaries are. They need to get to their jobs. They need to go to doctor’s appointments,” said Mirta Reyes-Chapman, transit program manager at the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, a regional planning agency for Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

“We’re embarking on something here that could be the beginning of something big: cooperation that would ultimately benefit people who are transit-dependent,” and recruit new riders, said Mike Bosela of Youngstown, president of the Western Reserve Transit Authority board of trustees.

“WRTA will work with anyone and join forces to pull down resources,” to help fund better public transit, Bosela said.

For more about this effort, see Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com