Bus patrons circulate petitions in effort to put brakes on cuts

A public forum on the proposed cuts is Friday.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Officials at the Western Reserve Transit Authority say cuts in services are needed, but some faithful bus patrons are not willing to allow that to happen without a fight.
WRTA officials have set a public meeting for 6 p.m. Friday at the WRTA offices on Mahoning Avenue near downtown to hear public opinion on what bus services and routes should be scaled back. Officials say reduced funding is to blame for the potential cuts. Decisions will likely be made sometime after the public hearing, transit authority officials say.
Kurt Elser of Warren regularly takes advantage of WRTA services and recently learned how difficult life can be without regular bus services. Elser said he missed the bus from Warren to Youngstown and decided to walk -- a trek that took him nearly three hours.
Elser said it was not long after his long walk that WRTA announced that cuts in service would be coming. He said at that time he received a message from God to take up the fight to save busing service for himself and all those who depend on WRTA.
Circulating petitions
Elser created petition sheets and has spent the last several days getting signatures and hanging the sheets in every bus and various places around the city. He said several Youngstown State University students and volunteers have joined the effort and are also collecting signatures.
Elser said he is unsure how many signatures have been collected to this point, but he plans to attend the upcoming public meeting with a long list of people who want and need the buses to continue running at current levels.
Tina Raines of Warren helped start the petition drive with Elser. She said representing those who cannot be in attendance at the public hearing is the most important aspect of the drive.
"For all those who can't make the meeting, I tell them that the name they put on the petition form is the name I will be at the meeting to represent," she said.
Raines said many people are concerned the downtown trolley may be one of the services headed for the chopping block. She said many elderly residents living in and around the downtown area depend on the trolley and need someone to voice that concern to those who will be deciding what cuts in services are made.
Fears cut in night service
Jodi Wiseman, a 1A Precinct committeewoman and daily WRTA passenger, also is helping with the petition drive. Wiseman said she does not drive and buys a monthly bus pass to get where she needs to go. She is afraid any cuts in night service will result in job losses for all those who depend on the night runs to get to work.
Althea Tobias of Youngstown is a regular user of the night bus services and she said she fears that service cuts may leave her and many others with no nighttime transportation. She said the bus service comes in handy when she has to go to a store at night or just wants to walk around one of the shopping malls.
"The night line comes in handy. Without the night-line bus you are stuck. You would have to catch a cab, and I don't always have money to catch a cab," she said.
Elser said he is aware that cuts are being considered because there is less funding. He said those who depend on bus service need to call upon local and state politicians to make sure more funding is made available.
"Through them we can make it happen," he said. "There is still hope."
jgoodwin@vindy.com