OH: Lorain County officials seek to continue, expand Via Lorain County

Lorain County officials have begun brainstorming ideas to continue and expand its pilot transit program, Via Lorain County, into the entire county next year instead of just servicing the cities of Lorain and Elyria.

Lorain County Deputy Administrator Karen Perkins announced during a commissioners meeting that she recently met with the pilot transportation program vendor, Via Transportation, and Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley, about the transit service.

Perkins said the officials discussed avenues of locally funding the program which will end in July after the federal money used to operate it will run out.

Since the program has been so successful in the cities of Lorain and Elyria since its inception July 15, county officials are looking ahead at finding a way to continue it beyond the one-year contract with Via Transportation that's currently in place.

Commission Vice President Dave Moore said the meeting was "uplifting and positive" from what he was told.

"It's just phenomenal the city of Lorain is very well pleased and a very wiling partner, and we will be reaching out to try to find other partners," Perkins said.

Some of the potential partners include the hospital systems, retail outlets frequented by the riders of the program and employers whose employees use the transit to travel to and from their jobs, she said.

"Just to help the public understand what partnerships mean is financial assistance so that we can continue the program, correct?" Moore asked, which Perkins confirmed.

Bradley seemed "very receptive" to the idea of partnering with the county to provide the service, Perkins said.

In the meantime, Via Transportation representatives are compiling new statistics of the "overwhelmingly successful" program and will present the information to county officials at a meeting by the end of January, she said.

A study of the county demographics in its entirety will be included in the research to ascertain where the micro-transit would be best used in surrounding areas, Perkins said.

Additionally, officials are working to calculate an estimate of the cost of running the program to present to potential partners, she said.

"We're just trying to fine tune how much money that it's going to take so that we may continue," Moore said.

Local officials also plan to speak with state and federal officials about how much money is available through grants and other financial programs, he said.

"If we can solve this transportation problem, we're heroes," said County Administrator Jeff Armbruster.

The Lorain County Transit has long faced problems and has been the only source of public transportation for years, officials have said.

"I just hate to see our buses running around with no one on them," Armbruster said.

Ironically, ridership has seen a slight increase with the the Lorain County Transit along with the success of the micro-transit system, Perkins said.

"They feed off each other," she said.

"Let's see if we can't grow it and make it work for all the communities in Lorain County," Armbruster said.

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