Tuesday, January 26, 1999
Eastgate area park-and-ride premieres
Grants have paid to start 4 new lots
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Eastgate area residents who commute downtown have a new way to get there — express buses.
On Monday, Metro opened a park-and-ride lot at North Park on Summerside Road in Union Township, Clermont County. From there, express buses take weekday commuters downtown, making several stops on Walnut Street and two stops on Fifth Street.
It's the fourth and final suburban park-and-ride lot that has opened since May. They've been made possible by a $3.1 million Ohio Department of Transportation grant, which is part of the downtown Fort Washington Way reconstruction.
The new park-and-ride services have been popular in West Chester, Fairfield and Harrison. About 130 to 160 people are on the routes each way. And the Eastgate service was off to a strong start Monday, with 50 riders each way.
“It's a lot cheaper, and someone else does the driving,” said Sandy Brown, 39, of Union Township in Clermont County, who used the new service Monday.
But there's one thing some riders may not realize: When Fort Washington Way is done in August 2000, the grant to run the services disappears.
Unless suburbs find a way to fund the service themselves — as Warren County did with the Paramount's Kings Island park-and-ride after grants associated with Interstate 71 construction dried up — the suburban services will end when Fort Washington Way construction is done and the grant runs out.
“We don't know what will happen after Fort Washington Way is complete,” Metro spokeswoman Sallie Hilvers said. “We have received calls and inquiries in all of the areas for years, but the funding just wasn't there.”
Paying for suburban bus services has been tough.
To provide the suburban service, Metro would likely have to cut service in the city of Cincinnati, Ms. Hilvers said. But a large portion of Metro's $62 million annual budget comes from city of Cincinnati money: $25.5 million from the city's earnings tax, and $3.9 million from Cincinnati Public Schools.
The $3.1 million grant solved the problem, temporarily.
The state will provide the money to help get traffic off the road and to prevent more snarls while the city reconfigures Fort Washington Way, which stretches from the Brent Spence Bridge to the Lytle Tunnel.
There is hope that the suburban services can continue beyond the construction. It's been done before, and some of the new communities are already talking about how to keep the routes running.
In 1996 and 1997, money from grants associated with I-71 construction paid for the express service from the Kings Island parking lot to downtown. When the funding ended, the demand for the service was in place and the money was found elsewhere.
Warren County has paid for the express service, and money from Hamilton County, Mason and Deerfield Township has kept a reverse commute service running between the city and Warren County.
Communities with new park-and-rides are already talking about how they can keep the service going beyond 2000.
“We do have federal dollars to match,” said Amy Terango, executive director of the Butler County Regional Transit Authority.
Now the transit authority is looking to local communities — including Fairfield and Union Township — to help come up with $500,000 to meet the 50/50 federal match grant.
“We'd like to see it continue, and we're working to find a way to make it work,” said David Gully, administrator for Union Township in Butler County.
He estimates the township would need to find close to $1 million over three years to help fund the service. Township officials could make a decision in the next 90 days, Mr. Gully said.
Trustees in Clermont County's Union Township haven't discussed the issue yet, said Catherine Wuerdeman, a township trustee. But she would like to see it keep going because of the benefit to people moving out there.
Mrs. Brown hopes that happens.
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