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Officials discuss transit upgrade
By Denise Dick
City, YSU, WRTA consider options
By DENISE DICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The city, Western Reserve Transit Authority and Youngstown State University want to develop a plan to best serve the transportation needs of employees, students and the public.
Mayor Jay Williams said discussions have been going on among the entities about ways to improve transportation.
One of the issues discussed is the need for a parking deck, possibly at Wick Avenue and Commerce Street, that would serve both the university and the city’s central business district, he said.
“Across the country, there’s a need for parking in downtown central business districts,” Williams said.
That’s encouraging, he said, because it means that people are coming downtown for entertainment and services.
Hunter Morrison, who directs campus planning and community partnerships for YSU, said talks also have encompassed seeking grant funding to explore creating a center serving various types of transportation, similar to what’s being created in Kent.
The Kent Central Gateway is a planned transit center that will increase transit accessibility and emphasize multiple forms of transportation, according to kentcentralgateway.com.
The project received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Representatives of all of the entities stressed that discussions are preliminary.
“It’s probably still a couple of years away,” said James Ferraro, WRTA executive director.
Ferraro said the local entities want to make it easier for university students to get downtown using the transit system.
“We want to get them accustomed to using public transportation,” he said. “They could come downtown without having to go to federal station.”
Morrison said YSU’s provost established an alternative transportation committee, of which Morrison is a member, when gas prices spiked about 11/2 years ago.
The committee has been exploring different aspects of transportation from the university’s shuttle service to parking to accommodations for bicyclists.
During the last few months, WRTA has gotten involved as its financial footing has gotten firmer and its services expanded. Mahoning County voters in November 2008 approved a 0.25 percent sales tax to fund the transportation system, which formerly received funding from city real-estate taxes.
In cities with well-established regional transportation systems, park-and-ride facilities are located in the suburbs, and people park their vehicles there and take the bus or train into their workplaces, Morrison said.
“Part of it is learning each other’s business,” he said of the university and the transit system.
Talks also have included whether it would be cost-effective to create a park-and-ride. Part of determining the feasibility of that idea would be determining where students, faculty and staff live, Morrison said.