Trumbull Transit service considering ways to reduce services

NILES

Trumbull Transit will make cuts in service 30 days from now.

This is due to $195,000 in senior citizen levy funds the Trumbull County commissioners recently moved from the county’s public transportation system, called Trumbull Transit, to a new senior-citizen-only service.

Now it’s a matter of evaluating the best ways to make those cuts. On Thursday, the Trumbull Transit board had a public hearing and heard from a dozen or more citizens to get their input.

They were informed that Trumbull Transit will be trimming the number of hours of service by 61 percent to offset the lesser revenue.

Throughout the public comments, board members and staff tried to explain the reasons why the reductions are being made but repeatedly offered that the reasons are complicated.

For senior citizens (people 60 and over), their rides are now being provided by four newly selected transportation companies — USA Taxi, Garwin, Comfort Care-A-Van and Country Neighbor. For those under 60, Trumbull Transit is still the ride provider, they were told.

Because of the potential for riders 18 to 59 to experience cuts in service, most of the citizens expressed concern.