American Idol 2012 finale
News hounds (5/24/12)
Fenwick vs. Felicity
Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > February > 03 > Entry
Bus route to link Hamilton, Middletown
A story by reporter Ed Richter in today’s paper (read the story, see a draft map and read comments from other readers here):
If all goes to plan, there could be a bus route to provide service between Middletown and Hamilton sometime in 2009.
Officials from Middletown Transit Service and the Butler County Regional Transit Authority have been discussing the proposed transit route for the past few months.
According to Steve Murphy, Middletown’s transit manager, the estimated cost to operate the service will be about $170,000 a year.
He said the proposed service would start as a demand response system in which people would have to make a reservation to ride in order to avoid running empty buses up and down Ohio 4.
Murphy said the service would include weekday morning and afternoon trip opportunities. The schedule indicates a one-way trip time of one hour and would run from Hamilton to Middletown then return back to Hamilton.
At Middletown’s bus hub on Monday, Feb. 2, some riders liked the idea of a bus route to Hamilton and said they would use it.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” said Douglas Baker. “There’s more work in Hamilton. I would use it. I’d like to see something like that for sure.”
Retta Allen said it’s a good idea for the bus system to expand out of Middletown, especially “for people in need who don’t have reliable transportation.”
The proposed map highlighted a number of stops at various governmental and social service agencies in Hamilton as well as stopping near the Bridgewater Falls shopping area.
Some of the other stops would include the county offices, the Butler County Jail, YWCA, Butler County Metropolitan Housing, Hamilton’s Social Security office, Garden Manor, county Jobs and Family Services, Butler County Health Center and shelters, such as Hope House.
Murphy said the city would contribute part of their Federal Transit Administration funds and BCRTA would match those funds as well as use their vehicles and staff to provide the service.
Murphy said if the city does not use its FTA funding allocation within three years, those funds would be transferred to another part of the state.
The proposed contract is being reviewed by Middletown’s Law Department and the proposal will have to be approved by Middletown City Council, Murphy said.
Carla Lakatos, BCRTA’s executive director, said the decision to proceed “is in Middletown’s court” and was reluctant comment at length.
Lakatos said the needs were identified by a number of the county’s social service agencies.
“This is something that people have been asking for,” she said.
Lakatos said the funding is in place and the service could be up and running within a month following the approval of the service agreement with Middletown’s council.
Lakatos said the service can be tweaked at any time once operations begin.
BCRTA already operates a demand-response system that includes a shopping shuttle and medical shuttle.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Transportation
Comments