By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Brittany Moore of Newtown (left) and Deneka Jett of College Hill listen to speaker Lynn Thesing (background), executive director of Starfire Council, at a public hearing Tuesday. (Craig Ruttle photo)

As many as 5,000 people with disabilities who rely on Hamilton County-funded bus service to get them to jobs, school and even life-saving dialysis soon could find themselves stuck at home.

Starting Feb. 1, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority proposes raising certain fares for those with disabilities from as low as 75 cents to as much as $5 one-way, which, advocates for the disabled say, threatens to keep those who live on fixed incomes house-bound.

Proposed cuts in service and fare increases for Access, a local bus service for those who qualify under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, are accompanying a proposed fare increase and other changes in SORTA's Metro routes.

Although Metro fare changes must be approved by Cincinnati City Council, SORTA can set Access fares, and its board will make the final decision.

Access provides 207,000 trips a year.

Nearly 200 people with disabilities, activists, representatives from social-service agencies and local bus commuters packed a room at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center downtown Tuesday to protest the planned cutbacks and fare hikes.

"This is a matter of life-and-death and independence for people with disabilities," said Debbie Dase, 49, of Deer Park, one of dozens of people who complained about the proposed changes.

SUGGESTED CHANGES

Proposed changes in Access, a bus service for Hamilton County residents with disabilities, include: Fare increases; beginning Feb. 1, fares will go up by as much as $4.25 each way, depending on whether the service is mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Restrictions on who can use the service and cutbacks in bus hours. Proposed changes for Metro service and fares include: Increases in fares and transfer charges beginning Feb. 1. Expanding MetroCard monthly passes beginning Feb. 1 from weekday use only to seven days a week. Eliminating Route 79 "Downtowner" bus service beginning March 7.

Dase, who uses a motorized wheelchair, will be forced to pay the higher rate because she lives outside the boundary of federally mandated bus service for people with disabilities. Fares for those inside the boundary would rise 50 cents to $1.50 on certain routes.

Two acquaintances where she works at United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati rely on the service four to five times a week, and, on a Social Security income of $552 a month, cannot afford to pay the proposed increase, she said.

Residents of Newtown, they attend a day program, go to school - and even run a small business, from United Cerebral Palsy facilities - but now will have to stay home, Dase said.

The changes, she said, are "going to be devastating for people with disabilities who live in the county."

Sue Benzinger, 66, of North College Hill, who has ridden Access about 15 years, heard of the proposed changes at a city council meeting a few weeks ago.

Benzinger said her husband sometimes drives her to appointments and said the proposed changes wouldn't affect her.

But having to pay $10 to go to the doctor or the dentist might for others, she said.

"I think it would stop some people," Benzinger said. "But what else are you going to do?"

SORTA says it doesn't like having to make the changes. But increases in ridership and rising costs have forced the nonprofit entity to cut staff and services, officials there say.

The transit authority says that just to break even this year, it needs about $426,000 in local-government funds for Access service.

But the Hamilton County general fund, the Council on Aging and the county Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities board have agreed to provide about $321,000, leaving SORTA more than $100,000 short.

"We don't have money to absorb the deficit," said Sallie Hilvers, director of public affairs for Metro, which is operated by SORTA.

The authority says it has trimmed staff and made other cutbacks of $1.7 million, but is still facing a shortage of $2.6 million for 2004.

The federal disabilities act, which went into effect in 1997, requires bus service be made available for people with disabilities who live within three-quarters of a mile of a Metro route.

Hamilton County has been serving people beyond those boundaries, but without extra funding, SORTA says; that service is likely to be dropped in 2005.

Commissioner John Dowlin says that's not the county's problem. "We're short of money, too," he said Tuesday.

Hamilton County is looking at a 2004 budget with $10 million less in its general fund, he said.

Dowlin said he wasn't surprised by SORTA's request for more money for Access.

"Our reaction to their request should not have come as a surprise, either," he said.

Transit officials say they warned the county that they would need more money early in the year, but didn't hear back until about a month ago.

When the county turned down its request for a budget increase, SORTA sent letters to municipalities in the county, pleading for help.

The letters, dated Nov. 12, went out to 29 municipalities in the county where users of the bus service live.

Communities were asked for amounts - based on ridership estimates - ranging from $123 in Cheviot, Woodlawn and Fairfax, to nearly $22,000 in Springfield Township.

Several of the municipalities, however, say it's impossible this late in the year to come up with the money, even if they had it.

"We are scrambling for resources ourselves," said Ray Hodges, city manager of Forest Park, which SORTA asked to chip in nearly $15,000 to help make up the 2003 shortfall.

"We do not have an ample supply of excess dollars to use for unanticipated and unbudgeted items," he said.

Madeira City Manager Tom Moeller said its city council also has concerns about paying the Access fee.

The transit authority sent out similar letters in the spring of 2002 when it had a smaller shortfall of $63,000, Hilvers said, and got less than $20,000 in contributions from the communities.

SORTA is asking Madeira for $3,943 this year, and asked for about $3,000 last year, Moeller said.

That request went unpaid because the city asked for more information and SORTA did not respond to the letter, he said.

In the end, say some residents with disabilities, it will be those least able who will pay.

"Who's really going to care if we have to stay home if we can't get the county to fund us?" asked Dase before the hearing began Tuesday.

"We need people to care, and we need to have our voices heard."

Sheila McLaughlin and William A. Weathers contributed to this report. E-mail loakes@enquirer.com