Local Public Transportation Routes Gaining Popularity/title>    <link href="../ocs_warm.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> </head> <body> <center> <div id="overlord"> <div id="header"> <a href="../index.html"><img src="../images/ocs_header.gif" width="760" height="194" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0"></a> </div> <div id="body_text">  <h1>Local Public Transportation Routes Gaining Popularity</h1> <p> July 22, 2010 -- Three weeks into the experiment, the Oberlin Connector bus service seems to have found its place in the county transportation system, and some admirers.</p> <p>City manager Eric Norenberg said after the connector bus’s first day of service on July 5 with four passengers making a total of eight one way trips, ridership has grown substantially. He said figures he received from Lorain County Transit showed the services had between 15 and 18 riders in the second week and 17 riders on Monday, July 19.</p> <p>“We’ve been pretty pleased with the variety of destination,” Norenberg said. “People have been going to SplashZone, Wal-Mart, Drug Mart, and a wide variety of commercial enterprises we had thought they would need transportation to get to.”<br> In June city council contracted with LCT to provide the bus service two days a week to Oberlin residents from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for 13 weeks, at a cost of $40 an hour. Oberlin Community Services and the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority agreed to pay $2,000.00 each to defray the city’s cost.</p> <p>The city’s cost is further reduced by the amount of fares collected. Without those fares, the expected maximum cost to the city is about $3,280, charged to city council’s temporary contractual account.</p> <p>The service operates on Mondays and Thursdays until September 30. Mondays are set aside as “Oberlin days” for trips within Oberlin and the immediate area.<br> Thursdays are primarily for trips outside Oberlin to Lorain and Elyria. First and third Thursdays are for trips to Elyria, and second and fourth Thursdays are for trips to Lorain.<br> The service runs from p a.m. to 3 p.m. with final trips beginning no later than 2:30 p.m.<br> Norenberg said he has received positive feedback from several people, and others have relayed to him the comments they have received.</p> <p>“We’ve had some interest expressed from people outside of Oberlin wanting to get to Oberlin,” he said. “We’re in talks right now with LCT about making that possible.”</p> <p>He has also had phone calls from leaders in other cities which are no longer served by LCT after budget cuts forced the transit authority to cut routes throughout the county early this year, leaving only Lorain and Elyria with some bus service. He said those leaders were interested in how the connector service works.</p> <p>“Potentially we’ve started a model that could be replicated in other communities,” he said. “And depending on our experience with this pilot program, we could possible continue it past September.”<br> <br> <em><a href="http://morningjournal.com/articles/2010/06/24/news/mj2934861.txt" target="_blank"><br> </a></em><a href="../about_press.html" target="_self">back to list of "OCS in the News" articles</a> </p> <p align="left"> </p>  </div> <div id="outer_menu"><img src="../images/menu_bar.gif" hspace="0" vspace="0" align="right" class="imagehold"> <p> </p> <p><strong><a href="../client.html"> Client Services</a> </strong><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_utilities.html">Utilities</a> </span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_housing.html">Housing</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_transport.html">Transportation</a> </span> <br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_prescriptions.html">Prescriptions</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_food.html">Food</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../client_meals.html">Meals on Wheels </a></span> </p> <p><a href="../tutoring.html"><strong>Tutoring</strong></a> </p> <p><strong>Support OCS</strong><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../donate.html">Donate</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../gifts.html">Gifts-in-Kind</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../annualreport.html">Annual Report</a></span></p> <p><strong>Volunteer</strong><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../volunteer_community.html">Community Members</a></span><br> <span class="indented"><a href="../volunteer_college.html">O.C. 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