SOUTH BEND — Olethea Ramsey stood outside the Transpo South Street station Wednesday afternoon, leaning against her zebra print wheeled backpack waiting for the No. 8 bus to arrive. She was on the second leg of her trip from her home to Ivy Tech Community College, where she is studying health care support.
On her daily trips, she said, she transfers buses two to three times between home, school and her job at T.J. Maxx in Mishawaka.
Ramsey’s among the 75 to 80 percent of riders who Transpo estimates are dependent on the local bus service for reliable transportation. But come next year, those riders could see a cut in Transpo’s services if current state fundung doesn’t improve.
Over recent years Transpo, like public transportation services across Indiana, has been fighting a stagnant pool of state dollars and an overall lack of consistent funding.
”Transpo has done everything it can to become more efficient. We run a very lean organization in terms of how we are staffed, but at the end of the day when you consistently see your funding cut there’s really nowhere else to go,” David Cangany, Transpo general manager, said.
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The money Transpo — and every qualifying transit agency in Indiana — receives from the state is divided out of the Public Mass Transportation Fund. That fund has remained just under $42.6 million for the past seven years. But every year costs rise and transportation agencies are forced to make do and compete for the funding available.
The problem started when the PMTF was detached from sales tax and made another line in the state budget, Cangany said. Before, when tied to sales tax, the PMTF would naturally escalate each year with inflation.