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By Damian Mann For the Tidings December 30. 2014 3:23PM RVTD braces for cuts to bus routes A Rogue Valley Transportation District bus travels through downtown Ashland on Tuesday. Daily Tidings / Jamie Lusch A popular bus route from Ashland to Medford would be cut back as the Rogue Valley Transportation District gears up to slash about 10 percent of its budget over the next six months and prepares to dip into its reserves. By June 2015, Route 10, which now stops every 20 minutes and often has standing room only, would stop every 30 minutes, resulting in the layoff of six drivers. Another nine drivers will go from full time to part time. “It’s going to make it really inconvenient for people,” said Julie Brown, RVTD general manager. “They may not get a ride, and they may have to wait for the next bus.” In March, RVTD also would cut out the portion of Route 1 that connects to the Medford airport in the north part of the city. The bus will go as far north as Highway 62. Evening hours on many routes — as well as Saturday service — would end in March, though three of the most popular routes — 10, 40 (Central Point) and 60 (White City) — would continue to have service past 7 p.m., based on an RVTD staff recommendation. Brown said many riders have said they will have to quit their part-time jobs on the weekends or during the evenings because they won’t be able to get to work with the new schedule. At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, RVTD will hold a public hearing at the Jackson County Courthouse auditorium, 10 S. Oakdale St., on the proposed changes. RVTD’s cuts will save about $650,000 annually and will prevent further cuts in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. But RVTD expects it might have to make more cuts to service by 2018-2019. The basic bus budget is about $7 million annually. Even with the cutbacks, RVTD will have to dip into reserves by $400,000 the first year to maintain the reduced level of services. The following year will require an additional $600,000 from reserves. Each year until 2018 will require another $600,000 until reserves are depleted. The reduction in service will also hurt RVTD’s bottom line because it expects ridership to drop 325,000 from the current 1.4 million annually. That would equal a loss of about $243,000 in fares. RVTD hoped voters would pass a levy in November that would have raised the money to avoid the cuts. Voters by a 61-percent margin rejected a property tax increase to maintain bus service at current levels and to expand routes. “With the taxpayers making that decision, we heard them loud and clear,” Brown said. She said many voters expressed concern about the recent library levy in May and were confused about whether RVTD just needed the money to expand service rather than primarily maintaining existing service. The new levy would have brought an extra $1.69 million to district coffers each year. Without the tax increase, RVTD has little choice but to cut back on services, Brown said. Paige Townsend, senior planner for RVTD, said about half the evening ridership has occurred on the three routes that staff recommends continuing past 7. If the last Route 10 bus leaves Medford at 7, a student at Southern Oregon University could catch a ride back to Medford around 8, Townsend said. Route 10 has the most riders, and Townsend said RVTD will be looking at ways to accommodate the large passenger load despite the less frequent schedule. Over the next four years, RVTD hopes to find other ways of generating dollars, either through grants or possibly additional state revenue, Townsend said. “Unfortunately, our services will be less convenient and less user friendly,” she said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.   http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20141230/NEWS/141239973 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->