By Perry Schaible
Enquirer contributor

HAMILTON - Seventy-seven-year-old Roberta Elza and her adult niece planned to catch The Shuttle - this city's public transportation service - last Friday afternoon to shop a sale at a local business.

The service, which has been run since October by the Butler County Regional Transit Authority, has become a lifeline for the Hamilton resident, who can't drive because of health problems.

City officials agreed to support the shuttle through 2004. But after that it's up to the voters to determine their level of public transit.

Issue 1, a five-year, half-mill levy will go before voters March 2. It would generate approximately $449,000 a year and would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $15 annually.

If the levy fails, the city could lose matching state and federal grants for public transit, said Carla Lakatos, director of the Butler County Regional Transit Authority.

That could put Park-n-Ride services in Fairfield and West Chester in jeopardy. It also could mean the loss of $3.25 million in grant dollars for a bus hub to be built during restoration of the Amtrak station at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Henry Street, Lakatos said.

Elza isn't the only resident to take advantage of The Shuttle since council earmarked $147,000 last year to support the service. Users hit an all time high Thursday when officials said it logged 122 riders.

"Every day we know there are new people coming on," Lakatos said.

Riders pay $1 each way for the fixed route service. The elderly and disabled pay $.50 a trip. Door to door customers are charged between $2 and $4 each way.

Buses run three days a week for eight hours. Those hours will be expanded to five days a week for 12 hours if the issue passes.

The BCRTA tried and failed to pass three county-wide levies in the last several years.

A rally for Issue 1 supporters is planned for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Anthony Wayne Apartments, 10 S. Monument Ave.