By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Butler County's public transportation agency, still fighting for life, is going to explore how it can serve the public without returning to fixed-route bus service.

The options for the Butler County Regional Transit Authority include operating Park-and-Ride sites, collaborating with other agencies and communities to provide curb-to-curb service for the elderly and disabled, partnering with employers to transport employees to work, and arranging service to Miami University's campuses.

The Transit Authority might buy vans to provide direct service or contract with other transportation agencies or private companies.

"Our focus is on mobility versus buses," Carla Lakatos, executive director of the Transit Authority, told the county commissioners Thursday.

"If any phoenix is going to rise from the ashes, it's going to have to be something entirely new."

The Transit Authority stopped its bus service at the end of last year after voters rejected a proposed transit sales tax increase. Commissioners Mike Fox and Chuck Furmon had sharply criticized the agency's emphasis on buses and fixed routes.

The Transit Authority Board wants to avoid dissolving itself so that Butler County won't lose $1.5 million the agency receives in federal funding for operations or capital expenses and $8.2 million in grants and state funding it receives for capital expenses only.

The agency also has 47 vehicles and a $2 million building and land. The federal government owns more than 90 percent of those assets.

The commissioners said they supported the Transit Authority's efforts to look for new ways of providing public transportation.

"We are about development and growth and providing jobs," Commissioner Courtney Combs said.

At Lakatos' request, the commissioners will form a committee to help the Transit Authority Board evaluate its options.

"We want to roll up our sleeves," Fox said, "and find a way to reach out and provide services to as many people as possible."

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com