WRTA to add routes, new service

Mahoning County residents can travel to medical appointments and other destinations on smaller WRTA buses.

YOUNGSTOWN — Beginning Sept. 14, Western Reserve Transit Authority services will expand to include routes through parts of Boardman, Canfield and Struthers and provide a door-to-door service countywide.

It’s part of fulfilling the promise made last November when Mahoning County voters passed a 0.25-percent sales tax for the transit service.

As with routes already in place, the new fixed routes will run 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Jim Ferraro, WRTA executive director, hopes the system’s additions are well used by the public.

“It’s a shame if people don’t take advantage of it,” he said.

While campaigning for the sales tax last year, WRTA officials said community circulators and crosstown buses would be provided in suburban communities and that small-bus door-to-door services would be offered throughout the county.

The agency originally expected the sales tax to generate more than $7 million annually, but because of the economic downturn, that estimate has been reduced to $6 million per year, the executive director said.

Information about the new and expanded services will be promoted through radio and newspaper advertising and on billboards closer to the time they start. It will also be on WRTA’s Web site, www.wrtaonline.com.

The line into Struthers will cover the north side of the city with stops at the Fifth Street plaza and other residential and commercial areas, said Tom Nugen, director of transportation.

New lines also are being added to cover the west and east ends of Boardman, allowing shoppers without other transportation to go to the Southern Park Mall, Shops at Boardman Park and businesses in Tiffany Boulevard and Doral Drive.

“Currently, we don’t cover South Avenue south of [U.S. Route] 224,” Nugen said. When the new routes start, “we’ll cover down to Western Reserve Road.”

Buses also will travel along state Route 7 to Assumption Village nursing home and to Hospice House, Sharrott Road, he said.

The new routes also will enable people to get to work at St. Elizabeth Health Center on Market Street at McClurg, Ferraro said.

“We’re scheduling it so people can be at work by 7 a.m.,” he said.

The agency hopes its services will help in getting people back to work by providing transportation for those who need it.

It may also help seniors retain independence, Nugen believes.

A man in his 90s pedaled his bicycle to a meeting of seniors attended by WRTA officials explaining the new services.

“He said, ‘My kids take care of taking me to the doctor and taking me to the grocery store. I would just like to be able to go some places on my own,’” Nugen said.

The other Boardman route will travel from the WRTA station in downtown Youngstown, along Glenwood Avenue up to U.S. 224 and the mall and then along Route 224 out to the green in Canfield city.

Also beginning Sept. 14, WRTA will provide door-to-door or a dial-a-ride service throughout Mahoning County. The service enables residents to ride from their homes to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores or other destinations on smaller buses.

Starting Sept. 7, people will be able to call a 1-800 number to arrange a ride for the next week. The number will be publicized closer to the start date.

Rides may be arranged between one week and the day before needed.

WRTA eventually hopes to have a satellite operation where it can keep buses in an outlying location. Until then, all of the door-to-door buses will start out at the downtown station before heading out to pick up riders and deliver them to appointments.

WRTA has hired 14 drivers and called back three drivers who had been laid off to accommodate the additional services. New drivers earn $7.50 hourly during training and $14.40 per hour when training is complete.

If changes become necessary as the program gets going, the system will make them, Ferraro said.

“We don’t know what to expect,” he said. “We could get 1,000 calls per day, or we could get 10 calls per day.”

denise_dick@vindy.com

Western Reserve Transit Authority services will expand starting Sept. 14 to include routes through parts of Boardman, Canfield and Struthers and provide a door-to-door service countywide.

FIXED ROUTES

The cost to ride is 60 cents for seniors or the disabled, 75 cents for students including those with university identification and $1.25 for adults. The cost of a transfer, or changing from one bus to another, is 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for seniors.

DIAL-A-RIDE

Also starting Sept. 14, WRTA will provide door-to-door or a dial-a-ride service throughout Mahoning County.

The cost is $2.50 one way for seniors and the disabled and $3.50 one way for the general public.