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Transit board to take over NiTTS
BY Jordan Cohen
NILES
The Trumbull Transit Board has agreed to take over the Niles Trumbull Transit System (NiTTS) on Jan. 1 after the city’s decision to cease funding and operating the public buses at the end of the year.
The transfer of responsibility for the service will allow public transit to continue, according to Mayor Ralph Infante.
“Had the board not taken it over, there would not have been a busing system,” Infante said.
The city had announced last summer it would have to cease its management of NiTTS because it could not maintain the $1,500,000 annual cost within its budget.
“We are reimbursed most of the costs, but it takes a long time to get the money,” Infante said. As an example, the mayor cited $600,000 in federal funds for the bus system that may not be received by the city until the end of the year.
“That’s put a crimp into our budget that we can no longer afford,” Infante said.
Making matters worse for the system’s finances was last week’s voter rejection of an 0.5-mill countywide levy that would have generated more local funding.
“This system has grown, and it should be a county-managed system and not a city-managed system,” said Mark Hess, Niles development director who oversaw operations of the bus service.
NiTTS has provided public transit since 2003 and municipalities had been reimbursing the city based on the number of riders from each community. The bus system reported approximately 64,000 riders last year, and Hess said most of them were either disabled or senior citizens.
To assist in the transfer of NiTTS to the transit board, Niles council Wednesday approved a memorandum of understanding in which Hess will provide “technical assistance” to the board for 12 months. The board will pay the city $500 for each month of Hess’ services.
“We’ll be teaching them how to run a bus system, get grants and basically make things work,” Infante said.
The mayor said that despite the agreement and the transfer of operations, local funding will have to be addressed since federal grants are contingent upon a local share.