Riders are noticing changes in Trumbull Transit, administrator says

Staff report

WARREN

Mark Hess, administrator and grants manager for the county’s public transportation service, Trumbull Transit, on Tuesday explained changes in the service that have begun.

Hess said some users of the service, who typically pay only about $1.50 or $2 per ride, have been calling to complain about changes.

Terry Thomas, president of Community Bus Services, which provides the rides, said by telephone later the biggest change is that the service will no longer be able to provide rides to virtually all riders at all times they wish.

In previous years, they were able to accommodate virtually all requests, Thomas said.

That may mean that people needing a ride for a doctor’s appointment at a specific time will have to use another service, Thomas said.

In all, Thomas said he still expects to provide about 60,000 rides in 2017, just like in 2016, but the service will have to start refusing some rides or asking the person if the ride can be provided at a different time.

Under the federal and state rules under which the service must operate to receive state and federal grant funds, the service cannot prioritize rides to people with the most serious needs, such as a person needing to attend dialysis, Thomas said.

“It’s first come, first serve,” he said.

The reason for the changes is that even though the 2016 contract between the county and Community Bus Services called for CBS to be paid $1.8 million, the service provided $2.4 million worth of rides, Hess said.

The county is not obligated to provide the additional money, so CBS had to “eat it,” Hess said.

“CBS didn’t want to turn away any requests, but that created a problem,” Hess said.

Thomas said the changes are being made to eliminate the loss of hundreds of thousands in revenue that it experienced in 2016.

In other business, Commissioner Frank Fuda said the commissioners are putting a freeze on all hiring in general-fund departments until the 2017 budget is finalized in the coming weeks.