WRTA to restore night, Saturday routes

The WRTA board will go from being a city board to governing as a county board.

Staff Report

YOUNGSTOWN — Two services the Western Reserve Transit Authority promised people if a countywide sales tax passed in November were night and Saturday routes, and both will be restored by Feb. 2.

In addition to the night and Saturday services, WRTA aims to begin service to Austintown and potentially to Campbell at the same time, said Executive Director James Ferraro.

“We’re a far cry from where we once were,” said Ferraro in terms of ridership.

The November 2007 ridership was a little more than 79,000, but this year the November ridership number was down to about 68,000.

Looking ahead to the new year, numbers should increase, Ferraro said at a WRTA board meeting Thursday.

Services will be met by using 30-foot coaches, 22-foot buses for 14 passengers and also wheelchair-accessible minivans. The minivans will work well for the door-to-door service in the rural areas, said Ferraro.

Since the 0.25 percent, five-year sales tax passed in November, WRTA has focused on how to uphold its promises, including purchasing new equipment, planning new route maps, and restoring and creating jobs.

Originally, WRTA estimated receiving about $7 million annually from the sales tax, but realistically, with the recession, that number will be closer to $6 million, said Ferraro.

The remainder of added services will be based around the amount that is generated from the sales tax.

“We made [the community] promises, and they’re going to get them,” he said of fulfilling the goals WRTA set before the November election.

During the meeting, the board passed a resolution to reappoint Ferraro as executive director. Ferraro’s contract expires at the end of the year and his reappointing came with no pay increase, said Michael Bosela, transit authority board president.

Bosela also noted that come the first of the year, the WRTA board is no longer a city board, but a county board.

“We are now a county entity, so our board will dissolve after this meeting,” he said to fellow board members, the Rev. Edward Noga, Barbara Orton and Anna Marie Nameth. Warren Harrell was not in attendance.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams will appoint three people for the transit authority board, and the Mahoning County commissioners will appoint four people.

The board-forming process already began and Ferraro said the new board needs to be appointed by January.