Bus Public Ride Transportation


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Bus Public Ride Transportation

Bus Public Ride Transportation

BARTLESVILLE, Oklahoma -

One way to save money on gas is to take the bus. For the first time in a long time, Bartlesville has a regularly scheduled public transit service.

After years of planning, Bartlesville residents now have an affordable way to get where they need to go.

Tuesday was day one for the new service.

The fare is 25 cents, that'll get you to one of 12 stops on a new bus route called the city ride circuit.

"The number one need is transportation for low income and working poor," said Father Lee Stephens.

Father Lee Stephens is a member of the Washington County Transportation Coalition. The group's been planning and surveying agencies and individuals trying to ensure the service is useful.

We met members of the coalition at the downtown library. When the bus arrived, some folks got on hoping to get to the WalMart. The driver explained that he was near the end of the morning circuits and it would be afternoon before he's start up again.

It's day one there's a learning curve. The coalition members asked them to ride along, and they'd get them to WalMart when we were finished. Fair enough.

Many of Bartleville's corporate citizens -- Conoco-Phillips, Arvest Bank, United Way and others -- have kicked in to make this program possible and affordable for the folks who'll use it.

Cimarron Transit, which already operates an "on-request" service for $2 per stop in Bartlesville, will operate the city ride circuit for one year. It consists of one 14 passenger bus with four one-hour circuits in both morning and afternoon.

Stops include social service agencies, grocery stores and medical facilities with plans to expand, if needed.

The Washington County Transportation Coalition hopes to add another bus and more stops to the route in the future if the one-year pilot program is successful.

The $30,000 initial cost was underwritten through the United Way and several local businesses that saw a need for public transportation.

The CityRide Circuit will be available from 7 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For a look at the bus service schedule, check out CityRide Circuit's Facebook page.

 

 

The cost of a single subway ride could rise to $2.40 from $1.70 and bus fares could increase to $1.75 from $1.25 under MBTA fare hike scenarios being considered by state transportation officials.

Fares across all modes of transportation would climb 43 percent under the most drastic fare scenario unveiled Tuesday by MBTA officials, who will discuss the proposal, along with another, smaller fare hike scenario at a morning meeting of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Standing Committee on Audit & Finance.

Under the more modest proposal, a 35 percent hike across all transportation modes, subway fares would climb to $2.25 and bus fares would rise to $1.75.

Both plans would include sharp increases in the cost of the RIDE, a service for residents with disabilities ranging from a 50 percent hike to $3 per trip to a 125 percent hike to $4.50 per trip. Residents requesting the RIDE service outside of legally required territory would be charged premium fares of either $5 or $12, under the two scenarios.

The fare increases would also be accompanied by unspecified service eliminations and reductions for commuter rail, bus, light rail, ferry and RIDE service areas, a plan likely to meet resistance from riders who depend on public transportation. T officials acknowledge that some service reduction proposals could leave current customers without MBTA service in their area.

MBTA officials say the fare hikes and service cuts will be needed to close a $185 million budget gap predicted for the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

“It is not our wish to reduce transportation options for any customers but it is our responsibility to present a balanced budget,” MBTA senior director Charles Planck said in prepared remarks that he plans to deliver to an MBTA subcommittee Tuesday morning. “In light of our increasing operating costs we are faced with choices about the service we will provide in the next fiscal year and with public input on the proposals we are presenting, we hope to reach the best outcome for the most people.”

According to Planck, 22 of 24 U.S. cities with urban rail service have raised fares since 2007, the last time the MBTA raised its fares, and many have enacted service reductions over that period.

The fare proposals will be the subject of more than 20 public meetings, T officials disclosed last week, and state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey has noted that final proposals nearly always change after public input. He has warned, however, that fare increases and service cuts are “almost impossible” to avoid, particularly after going five years without an increase, the longest of any major public transit agency in the country.

In recent years, three rounds of fare hikes and the dedication of state sales tax revenues to the authority have failed to stabilize the finances of the MBTA, which is advancing major expansion projects that would run the Green Line further north from Boston and extend commuter rail service to the New Bedford and Fall River areas.