Road Runner Transit announced that, starting Tuesday, an early-afternoon route running between Bayfield and Durango will be canceled.
All other routes will remain the same until further notice.
Budget constraints forced Road Runner Transit to cancel the route.
The first route going from Bayfield to Durango now will leave at 6:30 a.m. from the Road Runner stop; the second at 8:30 a.m. from the Pine River Library; and the third at 4:10 p.m. from the Road Runner stop.
Routes running from Durango to Bayfield will leave at 7:38 a.m., 9:38 a.m. and 5:18 p.m. from the Durango Transit Center.
Peter Tregillus, programs developer with Southern Ute Community Actions Programs Inc., said there were no plans to make further cuts.
You may have noticed that theres a depression going on, and its affected government receipts. Weve seen revenue decreases, Tregillus said.
He said Bayfield Transits decision to cancel the route was painful and deliberative.
We knew that this was going on and that there are competing demands on municipal revenue. There are public works to pay for and law enforcement, so we went and looked at our budget and said, OK, what can we do? Can we keep this going? he said.
Tregillus said the rationale for cutting the route as opposed to any of the other routes was protecting commuters ability to get to work.
Tregillus said the number of trips taken with the transit service was about 16,000, and 80 percent of those trips involved people going to work.
Tregillus said the second market segment that it serves is people who are transit-dependent the elderly and people who cant drive or dont have a car. They use the Road Runner to get to work, go to medical appointments, go grocery shopping.
Tregillus said elimination of the route will disproportionately affect transit-dependents.
This is not ideal because, yes, if youre an elderly person, now youll have to get up early to go in. Thats the impact, he said. But we had a serious cutback because we dont have a dedicated revenue source at local government. Its tough for public transport.
But, Tregillus said, however tight the purse strings become, Bayfield Transit is committed to maintaining some level of basic service so that folks in Bayfield can have some access.
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