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Plan could boost bus service Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Doug Meadows, left, and Mary Holdiman, right, make room for a sleeping rider as they wait for a bus in downtown Medford. Nap times would be cut short on three of the Rogue Valley Transportation District's major routes if transportation officials approve a plan to give the bus service federal funds totaling $250,000. The money would be diverted from road projects. Federal funds would be diverted to RVTD from road projects By JESSICA SMITH An infusion of $250,000 would give the Rogue Valley Transportation District a shot in the arm, but local cities with road projects would feel the needle prick. Under a proposal from the Rogue Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization, about $250,000 in federal funds would be diverted from road projects to RVTD for increased bus service on three major routes. Mary Holdiman, who lives in Jacksonville, said anything that would make riding the bus easier is welcome. RVTD adds route in 2000-01, boosts ridership 41 percent With just one additional route, the Rogue Valley Transportation District served 41 percent more riders this year. In 2000-01, RVTD ridership on eight routes was 810,000. The year before, ridership on seven RVTD routes was 574,825. Scott Chancey, an RVTD planner, said the ridership increase is the result of many things. "I couldn't say what one factor is involved," he said. "But on our part, I think consistency has helped." RVTD was forced to make cuts in service in 1999, after a two-year grant ran out and two operating levies failed. The transit district trimmed the number of routes from 12 in 1998 to seven in 1999 and ridership fell about 25 percent. For the past two years, RVTD has focused on riders of the transit district's most-traveled routes. The district's seven major routes are unchanged since 1999. An eighth route serves only Ashland, which pays for the extra service. The 2000-01 ridership numbers are the highest since 1995-96, when RVTD operated nine routes and offered Saturday service. About 951,669 riders used the bus that year. "It would be wonderful," said Holdiman, who regularly uses RVTD to travel to Medford for errands and appointments with her hairdresser. "Mornings, it's fine. But there's a stretch sometimes where you can't get a bus." With the extra funds, RVTD proposes increased peak-hour service on three of its eight circuits: Route 4 to southeast Medford, Route 40 to Central Point and Route 60 to White City. Scott Chancey, an RVTD planner, said buses would pick up riders every half-hour from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. Buses now pick up riders every hour. An advisory committee is expected to review the proposal tonight before forwarding a recommendation to the MPO policy board, which has final authority on the deal. The proposal is one of several intended to help the MPO earn the state's approval of a regional transportation plan. But before the policy board agrees to shift funds to RVTD, it may ask more of the transportation district. "If RVTD gets the money and helps each entity, I'm in favor of it," said Otto Caster, a policy board member and a Phoenix city councilman. "If they're going to use it to run the same as they do now, then I don't see what good it's going to do." If Phoenix and other cities are going to give up money for road projects, Caster said, RVTD should use the funds to improve bus service in the MPO. Caster said he'd like to see improved circulation in Phoenix, with buses making stops on First and Fourth streets. Medford and Central Point also are MPO members. Those cities and Jackson County share about $500,000 a year provided by the federal Surface Transportation Program. The MPO has full discretion over the funds and typically awards them to member jurisdictions for projects such as the planned overhaul of the north Medford interchange. But state transportation guidelines require the region to do more than fix roads. MPO-designated areas are expected to have regional transportation plans that reduce the number of people driving cars to qualify for state and federal transportation grants. The Rogue Valley MPO doesn't have an approved plan yet, said Michael Cavallaro, executive director for the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, which oversees the MPO. Increased funding for RVTD should demonstrate the region's commitment to reducing reliance on automobiles, he said. "Putting the onus on government to reduce (traffic) is telling government it has the power and responsibility to change people's behavior," Cavallaro added. "That's a stretch. But what government can do is make options available that will help people use alternative modes of transportation." Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.