Transit in transition: As WRTA ridership accelerates, downtown terminal deteriorates

FIRST OF A TWO-PART SERIES.

By Doug Livingston

TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

Inside downtown’s Federal Station bus terminal, a large brown spot outlines several ceiling tiles that have fallen from water damage.

A metal bar, once holding a tabletop, sticks up from the tile floor.

In the bathrooms, a foul odor permeates the graffiti-covered stalls. As you wash your hands, you can’t help but notice “Youngstown Sucks,” written in black marker to your right.

Outside, across the pothole-ridden parking lot, Youngstown resident Sachi Johnson waits for her bus under a glass-paneled enclosure. She wonders what Greyhound riders passing through Youngstown think of the city, viewed through the rust-stained windows of the Federal Street facility.

“They think that Youngstown is dirty,” she figures.

Johnson’s trip represents one of more than 1 million rides in the Mahoning Valley that the Western Reserve Transit Authority’s bus services will provide this year.

WRTA was one of the Valley’s first agencies last year to secure federal stimulus money — $3.5 million.

Despite a crumbling central terminal, WRTA officials instead decided to expand administration offices on Mahoning Avenue for a price of $1.2 million. The move sparked criticism from local residents, and it continues with riders like Johnson.

“We’re not proud of it,” James Ferraro, WRTA executive director, said of the facility that opened in 1985.

Ferraro argues that improving the administrative office was vital to improving countywide service, which will reach more voters and taxpayers than improving Federal Station.

Ferraro said he doesn’t think people from Sebring or Green Township care about Federal Station.

“But I can tell you this much, that if their family and their neighbors aren’t benefiting [from the recently expanded WRTA service] then they’re gonna say, ‘Why should I support [the sales tax] next time?’” Ferraro said.

In November 2008, WRTA moved from a property tax to a .25-cent sales tax. The sales tax is up for renewal in 2013.

Conditions at Federal Station have worsened over the years.

A total of $80,500 has been spent on the bathrooms over three restorations. The parking lot has been paved three times as well, totaling more than $425,000. A recent assessment of the parking lot, last repaired in 2005, calls for an additional $40,000 to repair.

One potential solution: Eliminate the terminal facility altogether, leaving a small area for Greyhound passengers. The rest of the property on West Federal Street would be open-air shelters for local riders.

Many riders oppose this idea, however.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com. Part II of this series will be published Tuesday.