Bus Fare Increases Effective April 1
Town and Country Transit General Manager Patti Lynn Baker said fare, location and hours of operation changes will be implemented next month to most passengers. The changes were approved by Board of Directors in February.
by Jonathan Weaver
Local bus passengers should begin saving more loose change due to fare increases effective at the beginning of April.
Effective April 1 and impacting passengers the next day, five zones will become two and fares will increase 25 cents, with transfer rates also jumping to 50 cents.
The rate increase was mentioned last month, but Town and Country Transit General Manager Patti Lynn Baker said passengers understand the fare increases – which are advertised on each bus.
“People don’t seem upset about anything – customers have kinda said ‘What took you so long? There hasn’t been an increase in so long,’ Baker said. “It doesn’t seem to be shaking anyone up too much.”
Shared-ride passengers should also prepare for changes.
Effective April 30, a total of five hours will be cut during the week’s transportation schedule.
Transportation is to no longer be available between 4 and 6AM Monday through Friday and 3-6PM Saturday afternoons.
Service to Pittsburgh will also be cut on Monday.
Baker added that a second-round of shared-ride changes is imminent.
Operations Manager Gerry Miller reported that one bus is receiving door repairs after being run into by a stolen 2002 Dodge Ram March 6 during a police chase in Manor Township.
TACT Driver Dana Lozano and an unidentified passenger were not injured in the accident.
Board directors questioned nearly $8,000 in checks written to Good’s Tire Service of Kittanning. Maintenance Foreman John Ferraro said that paid for four tires and maintenance.
Baker added that that charge was necessary because of new tire sizes for the new shared-ride vehicles received earlier this month. But, not all the expense was for new tires.
“Tires were one of those expenses that ended up being large, partly because we buy steering tires, and once their used for steering and can’t be used on the front anymore, we take them back up to Good’s and have them capped so they can be reused again and it’s not so expensive next time around,” Baker said.
Ferraro reported that Good’s prices were better than the state COSTARS purchasing program.
“A cap is running me about $110-12 a piece for the opuses, where a new tire for the rear was almost $500 a piece, so for the price of one tire, I was putting all four tires on as caps,” Ferraro said.
He reported capped tire prices for the shared-ride buses were also more than $60 less than purchasing new tires.
The next meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 11 at 4PM – a week before the meeting is normally held – so that Board members can review a consolidated operation application before it is due.
The Board of Directors’ reorganization meeting will be held 30 minutes prior to the June meeting.
TACT - Town and Country Transit | jweaver March 26, 2012 | 
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