By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
Reiterating the need for new funding, the Regional Bus Authority painted a gloomy picture of the future of Northwest Indiana mass transit at its monthly meeting Wednesday.
The RBA currently is operating under a two-year grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, set to expire at the end of next year. If no permanent funding source is found before then, the RBA can't operate.
Area bus agencies are facing a similar dilemma as traditional funding sources dry up.
Hammond has decided to cut the size of its bus system and fund it for the first six months of next year. The city previously had considered not funding it at all next year.
East Chicago and the Northwest Indiana Community Action's demand-response service also are facing service cuts next year.
"This may be the precise time we come together to talk about something entirely different: The RBA operating regional (bus) transportation in Northwest Indiana," said RBA Chairman Dennis Rittenmeyer.
Rittenmeyer has extended an offer to assume financial and operational control of the Hammond and East Chicago bus systems, but so far neither city has expressed an interest.
"One unfortunate scenario is we don't come together (to find a regional solution), and over time, all these services disappear," Rittenmeyer said.
Daryl Lampkins, administrator for the Gary Public Transit Corp., said the GPTC is in better shape than the Hammond, East Chicago or Northwest Indiana Community Action agencies.
GPTC has been scaling back the past three years, which have left the agency in a manageable position for the short term under the property tax caps imposed by House Bill 1001.
"I don't see us in 2009 not being able to make it," Lampkins said. "I cannot tell you beyond 2009 at this point."
GPTC will take a $1.4 million hit under tax caps and plans on seeking help from the state's distressed unit board to spread that decrease out over a period of years.
Lampkins said it also is considering a fare increase in June and contracting out its maintenance department, which would save on health care and pension costs.
RBA board member Corey Surrett reported on a new change in the Federal Transit Administration's New Start's program -- the program Valparaiso used to fund its express bus service to Chicago.