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Bus operator boosts fares, slashes routes Grant runs out, costing RVTD third of budget Remaining bus routes Effective Monday, the Rogue Valley Transit District is shuffling its schedule to make up for the loss of a federal grant. Here is the new schedule. All routes begin and end at the Front Street transfer station in Medford. Route 1 -- Rogue Valley Mall and Poplar Square. Runs hourly from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with stops at the mall, Bear Creek Plaza, Fred Meyer and Poplar Square. Route 2 -- Main Street and West Medford. Runs every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to Oakdale Avenue, West Stewart Avenue and the Black Bird Shopping Center, Thunderbird and Albertson's. Also serves West Main Street and West Eighth Street. Route 4 -- Rogue Valley Medical Center. Runs hourly from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Service to Bear Creek Park on Siskiyou Boulevard, Barnett Road, Black Oak Drive and RVMC. No service to Juanipero Way or the Rogue Valley Manor. Route 10 -- Ashland. Runs every 30 minutes from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. This route is unchanged except that it will no longer enter the parking lot of the South Gateway Center. Also no Route 5 service in Ashland. Route 30 -- Jacksonville. Runs eight times daily at 7:30, 8:15 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:15, 3, 3:45, 5:15 and 6 p.m. Serves West Jackson Street and North Columbus Avenue in Medford and serves the Jacksonville Museum, post office and downtown. Route 40 -- Central Point. Runs hourly from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Serves Third and 10th streets in Central Point and serves the Rogue Valley Mall inbound and outbound. No service to west Central Point. Route 60 -- White City. Runs hourly from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Serves Medford to White City from East Main Street and Crater Lake Avenue. The route will run by the Veteran Affairs Domiciliary and WalMart. No service to industrial west side of White City. For more information, call 779-2877. By JIM DAVIS Fewer routes, higher fares and longer waits are in store for Rogue Valley bus riders. The Rogue Valley Transit District unveiled its plan Thursday to compensate for the loss of a federal grant that had paid for a third of its operating budget. "It was difficult," said Sherrin Coleman, RVTD's general manager. "You know you're going to cause a problem for some people. But we knew we had to reduce our service." The Congestion, Mitigation and Air Quality grant gave the agency $1.25 million for the past two years. The grant allowed the agency to run five high-frequency routes in the middle of Medford, serving more than 220,000 riders last year. RVTD tried twice to get district voters to continue the program by passing levies, but both requests failed at the ballot box. The grant ends this week. To make up for the loss, RVTD will cut the number of regular routes from 12 to seven. RVTD traffic supervisor Maria Rizzo said traffic planners tried to cut the routes that were used the least. All changes will take place Monday. The plan will cut service to the west side of Central Point and the west side of White City, and will eliminate a route that runs solely in Ashland. It also will cut parts of routes that run east of Crater Lake Avenue in Medford and a route that runs to the Rogue Valley Manor in Medford. Frequency is another victim of the cutbacks. With the grant, RVTD was able to run buses on some routes every 15 minutes and on most routes every half hour. Now, buses will run most routes hourly and only two of the routes every half hour. Fares will go up on some routes. With the federal grant, RVTD was able to run the five frequent routes in Medford for only a quarter a ride. Starting Monday, the fare will be $1. The change will also affect service for people on Valley Lift, which gives rides to people with disabilities. Now, people with disabilities need to call two hours in advance for rides. Next week, those people will need to make reservation the day before. A provision has been made for people who need to see their physicians immediately, if the physician makes a phone call to the district. Rizzo said all the decisions were difficult. "You always worry about every single person who's going to be affected, because we see those people every single day," she said. She said planners will keep an eye on the new system and adjust it as needed. Coleman said the cuts are also difficult to swallow because the RVTD staff believed that the routes were beginning to work. In the first year, the federally funded routes saw 123,000 people use the bus. In the second and final year, more than 223,000 people rode the bus. That means, Coleman said, that people were becoming used to the system and were using it to get around. Coleman said she thinks the plan for reduced service is the best possible under the circumstances. "I'm pleased with the plan," Coleman said, "considering what we had to work with." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA