Access Scioto County Public Transit

System Description

There are currently 59 transit systems in Ohio including 24 Urban and 35 Rural.

Access Scioto County (ASC) is one of the Rural Systems and provides public transportation to the City of Portsmouth, all of Scioto County and South Shore, KY.

The service operates Monday through Friday from 6:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. under the auspices of the Scioto County Commissioners and provides curb-to-curb, shared ride, demand response transportation. All trips must be scheduled in advance and require at least a 24-hour advance reservation which can be made 8:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. Monday through Thursday.

The mission of ASC is to provide safe, reliable, affordable and efficient public transportation throughout the Scioto County area regardless of age, race, income or disability.

ASC is funded in part by grants from the Federal Transit Administration, the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Office of Transit and from contract revenue from the Scioto County Department of Job and Family Services.

History

Access Scioto County (ASC) grew out of a grass-roots effort in the early 1990's by concerned citizens, civic groups, social service and government agencies that formed the Scioto County Transportation Committee (SCTC) with the goal of establishing a countywide public transportation system to provide transportation for those in the area who did not have a reliable means of transportation.

In September of 1993, the SCTC took a major step toward their goal when the Scioto County Commissioners applied for and received a Coordinated Transportation grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Funds from this grant provided capital and technical assistance to help establish a transportation project in Scioto County.

In 1994 the Commissioners appointed a steering committee from the members of the SCTC to work with ODOT officials and consultants to move the transportation project forward.

Members of the steering committee included Dave Ross (Chairman) of Scioto County MRDD, Ruby Grant (Vice-Chairman) of Scioto County Dept. of Human Services, Renee Ellis (Secretary), U.S.S.A, Inc., Jim Gerard of Scioto County Schools, Ann Sydnor of Portsmouth City Council and Scioto County C.A.O., Sue Camp of Scioto County Children’s Services and Jeanie Miller of Portsmouth City Schools.

The steering committee named the proposed transportation system Access Scioto County (ASC) and set about recruiting a full time coordinator to manage the system.

In 1995 the steering committee recommended Valerie Stamper to the Commissioners who appointed her the first ASC Coordinator.

With funding from the Commissioners and ODOT’s Specialized Transit Program ASC established a partnerships with several local agencies, including Scioto County MRDD, United Scioto Senior Activities, Inc., RSVP, and others that were already providing transportation to coordinate transportation services for elderly persons and persons with disabilities.

As part of this coordination project ASC transported its first passengers in 1996. That year 6,139 elderly and disabled passengers were transported by ASC.

After two years of operating under the Specialized Transit Program in 1998 ASC transitioned to the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Rural Public Transit Program.

Under this program, which is administered by ODOT’s Office of Transit, ASC received not only capital and technical assistance, but also state and federal funds for operating expenses. Up to this point funds to operate ASC had been provided at the local level mainly from the Scioto County Commissioners.

The most significant change in moving from the Specialized Transit Program to the Rural Public Transit Program was ASC transitioned from only providing transportation for the elderly and disabled to being open to the public and providing transportation services available to anyone in Scioto County.

Through the continuing support of the public, FTA, ODOT and the Scioto County Commissioners ASC continues to grow and develop and today provide service to the public through out all of Scioto County and South Shore, Kentucky.

Everyday hundreds of people from all over the area, of all ages use ASC to travel to work, school, shopping, medical appointments and other destinations throughout the Scioto County area.

2010 Personnel

ASC employed 15 people in 2010, which included 4 administrative staff, 2 operational staff and 9 drivers. This compares to 16 employees in 2008.

Leroy Hackworth, Transportation Specialist/Dispatcher, employed since 1996

One staff member was dismissed in June as a result of disciplinary action.

Safe Driver Awards

The ASC Safe Driver Award program was established in 2000 to recognize each driver that logs at least 1500 hours during the year without a preventable accident, moving violation, unexplained damage to their bus or report of unsafe behavior reported by the public.

The program was established to promote safety consciousness among our drivers and to reward those that demonstrate a commitment to safe driving.

Drivers that earned Safe Driver Awards in 2010 included Rick Potts for 11 years of safe driving, Bill Potts and Brian Setser for 5 years of safe driving, Robert Donahoe and John Mc Nutt for 4 years safe driving, Nathan Potts for 3 years of safe driving, TH Lancaster for 2 years of safe driving and Cody Rankins and Dave McNutt for 1 year of safe driving.

Each driver was recognized for their dedication to safety by receiving a safety bonus based on the number of years of safe driving that they have achieved.

2010 was the first year since 1998 at ASC that there were no preventable or disabling damage accidents involving our drivers.

Financial Report

Accrual Accounting Used

The accrual method of accounting, which ODOT has required since 2009, was used again in 2010 to report all operational expenses and revenues.

By using this method it has been made easier to take full advantage of available grant funds as opposed to the past when cash based accounting was used.

Under the cash method end year conditions of increased expenses, low cash flow and appropriation and cumbersome year end bill paying procedures by the County Auditor’s office hamper ASC’s ability to incur enough expenses by the end of the year to take full advantage of the available funds.

The accrual method of assigning the expense to the month in which it occurred remedied this problem.

Another Challenging Year

While 2009 was one of the most financially challenging years in the existence of ASC 2010 was even a more daunting task.

2010 was the first full year that the full impact of losing the revenue from the Prevention, Retention and Contingency (PRC) and Title Twenty (TXX) contracts with the Scioto County Department of Job and Family Services (SCJFS) was felt.

The contracts were cancelled in May of 2009 due to state budget cuts and meant the loss of some $27,000 per month for ASC.

The original 2010 budget projection before the loss of the contracts was $880,537, however after the loss of the contract revenue the 2010 budget was reworked and set at $780,296. This meant that the average monthly expenses could not exceed approximately $65,000.

By the end of March ASC operating expenses were averaging nearly $74,000 a month. At that rate the total expenses would total over $888,000 for 2010, some $107,704 over the budget.

It was apparent that something had to be done immediately to stave off financial disaster.

During the past few years expenses had been reduced through staff reduction, service cuts including the elimination of Saturday service, the Instant Access same-day service, out-of-town service and reduction in the number of daily trips to the outlaying areas of the county.

These costs cutting measures coupled with lower fuel costs in 2009 resulted in a nearly $130,000 reduction in operating costs from 2008 to 2009. Operating costs dropped from $969,028 in 2008 to $839,073 in 2009.

The next proposed service cut scheduled to be implemented to save expenses if the previous cost cutting measures proved to be inadequate was to eliminate Friday service. It was announced in late March that ASC intended to eliminate Friday service beginning May 3, 2010. Following the announcement ASC received many complaints from passengers concerning the proposal and in response in April ASC announced that it would close the office on Fridays and reduce the hours of all office employees as a cost cutting measure first instead of eliminating all Friday service. This was done starting May 7, 2010. It was further announced that if the closing of the office on Fridays proved not to provide sufficient cost savings that the elimination of Friday service would be implemented at a later date.

Through the closing of the office on Fridays and the continuation of the previous cost cutting measures and despite a substantial increase in fuel costs, ASC was able to reduce operating costs in 2010 to end the year just $7,279 over the projected operating budget.

Expenses

Total operating expenses including vehicle maintenance* and local in-kind contribution credit were $787,575 in 2010. This compares to $839,072 in total operating costs in 2009.

Reductions in wages and benefits totaling over $58,400 along with $7,546 reduction in professional and technical services, $3,140 in advertising expenses, $2,689 in vehicle maintenance, $1,293 in supplies and $214 in travel expenses help offset an over $12,800 increase in fuel and nearly $8,900 increase miscellaneous expenses in 2010.

Overall operating expenses were reduced some 6% from 2009 or $51,497. Since 2008 ASC operating expenses have been reduced over $181,450 or a total of 19%.

Operating costs in 2010 included $252,784 in administrative costs, $43,533 in vehicle maintenance costs and $491,258 in vehicle operations costs.

This compares to $279,563 in administrative, $46,358 in vehicle maintenance and $513,152 in vehicle operations costs in 2009 and $282,495 in administrative, $42,020 in vehicle maintenance and $644,513 in vehicle operation costs in 2008.

The largest percentage of ASC’s operating expenses again in 2010 consisted of wages and benefits followed by fuel and vehicle maintenance costs.

Total payroll expenses including fringe benefits for 2010 was $594,217 including $372,390 in wages and $221,415 in benefits. Payroll expenses accounted for over 75% of the total 2010 operating budget.

In 2009 the total payroll expense for ASC was $652,653 including $394,778 in wages and $257,875 in fringe benefits. In 2009 payroll expenses accounted for over 78% of the total ASC Operating Budget.

This compares to a payroll expenses totaling $731,131 in 2008 including $441,458 in wages and $289,673 in benefits.

*Beginning in 2009 ODOT classified vehicle maintenance as a capital expense and not an operating expense. In the past vehicle maintenance was reported on the quarterly invoice as an operating expense. It is now reported on the operating invoice as a non-eligible expense and is reported as capitalized maintenance expense on a separate invoice and paid with capital grant funds. The reimbursement rate is also higher since operating expenses are only reimbursable up to 50% while the expense under the capital funding is reimbursable up to 90%. For the purposes of comparison vehicle maintenance has been included in the operating expenses in this report.

While some revenues were higher than expected, such as general public fares and contract revenues, total revenues for 2010 were down considerably from 2009.

The impact of the first full year after losing the PRC and Title XX contracts was reflected in the decline of contract revenue in 2010 dropping $71,942 from 2009.

Federal funds declined some 9% dropping from $382,393 in 2009 to $349,434 in 2010.

Revenues from on bus advertising also declined some 17% from 2009 dropping from $4,446 to $3,690 in 2010.

ASC saw a significant increase in state funds received in 2010 as ASC received an extra $40,252 from the state. Revenue from state grant funds totaled $49,965 in 2009 and increased approximately 81% in 2010 to $90,217.

The was also a slight increase in elderly and disabled funds received from the state in 2010 that help offset the cost of providing a reduced fare to those passengers who qualify for the half price general public fare. State E&D revenue increased to $4,610 in 2010 up some $552 from $4,058 received the year before.

General public fares were up over 44% from 2009 thanks in large part to the purchase of some $10,000 in tickets by the adult probation department of the Portsmouth Municipal Court.

General public revenues in 2010 totaled $44,597 as compared to $30,885 in 2009.

For the second year in a row the federal operating assistance made up the largest portion of revenue to operate ASC. Federal grant funds accounted for nearly 44% of ASC’s total operating revenue in 2010 compared to some 48% in 2009.

Even though contract revenues were down some 22% from 2009 dropping from $323,924 to $251,983 in 2010 revenue from the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) contract with SCDJFS accounted for nearly 32% of ASC’s total revenue in 2010.

The NEMT contract provides transportation to those who have a medical card to and from medical appointments and related activities.

The amount received from contract revenue in 2010 wasn’t even half of what ASC received in 2008 when contract revenue totaled a record $556,905. The decline in contract revenue that began in 2009 and continued in 2010 was due to the loss of the PRC and Title XX contracts with SCDJFS in May of 2009.

The increases in revenue from state sources and general public fares helped offset some of the lost contract and federal revenue, however ASC suffered an overall loss of $51,498 in revenue from 2009.

While the loss is substantial it is at least less than the decline of some $173,000 in operating revenue in 2009 from 2008.

2010 operating revenue included $349,434 in federal operating assistance, $90,217 in state operating funds, $4,610 in state elderly and disabled reimbursement funds, $251,983 in contract revenue, $44,597 in general public fares, $3,690 in on-bus advertising revenue, $39,180 in federal funds for reimbursement of capitalized maintenance.

This compares to $382,393 in federal assistance, $49,965 in state assistance and $4,058 in State elderly and disabled fare assistance, $323,924 in contract revenue, $30,885 in general public fares, and $4,446 in on-bus advertising revenue and $43,402 in federal capitalized maintenance reimbursement funds in 2009.

In 2008 ASC revenue included $323,316 in federal assistance, $35,651 in state assistance, $5,592 in state elderly and disabled fare assistance, $556,905 in contract revenue, $46,164 in general public fares and $1,400 on-bus advertising revenue.

The overall breakdown of 2010 revenue included approximately 44% federal, 32% contracts, 12% state, 5% from capitalized maintenance reimbursement, 6% fares and the remaining approximate 1% was made up of elderly and disabled reimbursement funds, on-bus advertising and local cash.

This compares to approximately 45.6% in federal funds, 38.6% contract revenue, 6% state funds, 5.2% from capitalized maintenance reimbursement, 3.7% general public fares, and less than 1% elderly and disabled reimbursement funds and on-bus advertising revenue in 2009.

ASC was able to take advantage of all available state and federal funds that it was eligible for in 2010 compared to only 96% of available federal and 85% of available state funds in 2009 and 89% of available federal funds and 58% of available state funds in 2008.

For the second year in a row ASC received additional federal funds for capitalized maintenance.

First introduced in 2009, ODOT permitted its grantees to report vehicle maintenance costs as a capital expense instead of an operational expense. By doing this vehicle maintenance expenses were reimbursed at 100% in 2009 using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and at 90% in 2010 using capital funds. This compares to reimbursement rate of only 50% when reported as an operating expense.

For the tenth year in a row ASC was able to finish the year without receiving any financial support from the Scioto County Commissioners.

This is a positive thing since the commissioners had no extra money to spare as they continue to work out of a 3.5 million dollar deficit that led to the state auditor’s office declaring Scioto County in a fiscal emergency declared in 2009.

The Commissioners made good progress in 2010 toward reducing the multi-million dollar budget deficit and ASC again did its part by not adding to the financial woes of the county.

It was a balancing act again in 2010 to incur just the right amount of expense to keep the transit system operating in the black and utilize all available grant funds and not incur too much expense that would create a yearend deficit and requiring local funds to make up the difference.

Operating Data

In 2010 ASC drivers traveled 197,456 revenue miles and logged 14,107 revenue hours while transporting 46,000 passengers.

This compares to 207,988 revenue miles and 14,851 revenue hours transporting 47,829 passengers in 2009 and 252,951 revenue miles and 20,524 revenue hours and 69,991 passengers in 2008.

For the fourth consecutive year ridership on ASC declined. The total number of passengers transported by ASC in 2010 was down only 3.8% from 2009, however was down over 34% when compared to 2008.

Overall ASC ridership was down over 51% in 2010 when compared to 2007 when ASC transported a record number, 94,087 passengers.

General public ridership was actually up some 11.4% in 2010; however contract ridership down just over 24%. The decline in contract ridership was a result of the lost of the PRC and TXX contracts in May of 2009.

In 2009 ASC transported 20,450 contract passengers compared to 15,500 in 2010. General public passengers increased from 27,379 in 2009 to 30,500 in 2010.

Hopefully the decline contract ridership has stabilized as full impact of the loss of the PRC and Title XX contracts and all the service changes that have been made during the past couple of years have had time to been realized.

General public ridership has seemed to have stabilized with roughly the same number of general public passengers being transported for the past three years; 28,854 in 2008, 27,379 in 2009 and 30,500 in 2010.

While overall contract ridership declined in 2010 the number passengers transported under the and Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) contract with SCDJFS actually increased slightly for the third year in a row increasing from 13,282 passengers in 2008, 14,609 in 2009 and 15,500 passengers in 2010.

With the elimination of the Title XX contract in May of 2009 it was theorized that elderly and disabled ridership would see a significant decline. The thought process behind this theory was that with many of the elderly passengers on fixed income that had been riding at no cost to them would not be able to afford to use ASC when they would have to pay out of their own pocket.

This prediction seemed to have continued to be true in 2010 as E&D ridership declined some 30.5% since 2008.

The total number of E&D passengers transported in 2010 was 11,515 including 3,082 contract and 8,433 in general public E&D passengers. This compares to 13,299 in 2009 including 4,079 contract and 9,220 general public E&D passengers and16,569 in 2008 including 7,948 contract and 8,621.

Approximately 25% of the total ridership was elderly and disabled passengers in 2010 compared to approximately 23% of all passengers in 2008 and nearly 28% in 2009.

Pickup and Drop-off Demographics

Portsmouth and New Boston continued to be the most popular pick-up and drop-off locations for ASC passengers again in 2010.

Slightly over 67.5% of all passengers transported in 2010 by ASC were pick-up and drop-off at locations in Portsmouth, while nearly 11% of all trips made by ASC passengers in 2010 involved locations in New Boston.

Other popular pick-up and drop-off locations throughout Scioto County included Wheelersburg accounting for nearly 6.3% of all trips, Rosemount with 3.8% of all trips, and Sciotoville and West Portsmouth both with 2.4% of all trips rounding out the most popular pick-up and drop-off locations in 2010.

Passengers listed traveling to medical appointments, conducting personal business, going to work and going to school or shopping as their top purposes for trips when using ASC during 2010.

Some 42.7% of all trips scheduled in 2010 were related to medical purposes, while 26.4% were related to appointments, errands and personal reasons, followed by 23.1% for employment and related activities and approximately 7.8% of all trips that were related to education or shopping trips.

Performance

The Public Transit Index (PTI) was introduced by ODOT to Ohio's transit systems in September of 2004.

The PTI rating system was developed by ODOT to assess the quality and quantity of Ohio’s transit systems. Based on national transit research and generally accepted industry standards, then fine tuned to Ohio’s transit systems the PTI was introduced to satisfy the growing national trend to develop a data analysis system which reports how well transit systems are doing.

The PTI uses the following performance measures to rate the level of service and performance of each of Ohio’s transit systems:

· Quantity of Service (including Span of Service, Service Area Coverage and Miles per Capita)

· Infrastructure (Including Percentage of Vehicles Beyond Useful Life and Accessibility)

· Cost Effectiveness (Including Cost per Passenger and Farebox Recovery Ratio)

The PTI establishes acceptable levels of service and performance for each transit system using an A-F rating scale. The rating scale is not a traditional “grade” system or ranking but is similar to the one that ODOT uses to rank highways. In general a “C” or “D” rating means that a transit system is performing at an acceptable level. An “E” rating means that a service measure “needs improvement” and an “F” rating mean that the performance for a particular service measure is “unacceptable”.

PTI Definitions

Quantity of Service:

· Span of Service – number of hours a system is “open” for business.

· Miles per Capita – how many miles per person in the service area does the transit system provide.

Quality of Service:

· Measured by response time for a system that includes the average of the following:

Infrastructure:

· Average of the level of service ratings of percentage of vehicle fleet beyond useful life standards (5-years or 150,000 miles) and percentage of vehicle fleet of which is accessible.

Safety and Reliability:

· Average of the level of service ratings of number of accidents per 100,000 miles and number of vehicle breakdowns or road calls per 100,000.

Service Effectiveness:

Cost Efficiency:

Cost Effectiveness:

· Measured by the average cost per passenger and farebox revenue vs. total operating costs (farebox recovery ratio).

Local Commitment to Transit:

· Measured by the percentage of total expenditures from local cash sources (as reported on line item 409 of the Rural Operating Invoice).

PTI Level Service Rating Scales

Quantity of Service:

Quality of Service:

- A = Door-to-door plus call to inform passenger vehicle is on its way to pick them up

Infrastructure:

Safety and Reliability:

Service Effectiveness:

Cost Efficiency:

Cost Effectiveness:

Local Commitment to Transit:

ASC PTI Ratings Comparisons

Here are the PTI ratings for Access Scioto County comparing 2008, 2009 & 2010:

Quantity of Service:

ASC Quantity of Service Rating:

Quality of Service:

ASC Quality of Service Rating:

Infrastructure:

ASC Infrastructure Rating:

Safety and Reliability:

ASC Safety and Reliability Rating:

Service Effectiveness:

ASC Service Effectiveness Rating:

Cost Efficiency:

Cost Effectiveness:

ASC Cost Effectiveness Rating:

Local Commitment to Transit:

ASC Local Commitment to Transit Rating:

ASC PTI Profile 2008 - 2010

ASC Overall PTI Profile Rating:

Capital Improvements

Capital projects for 2010 included replacing the roof and ceiling rehab of the ASC office building, purchase of a time lapse security digital video recorder, a replacement Light Transit Vehicle and the capitalizing of the vehicle maintenance.

Stevens Construction won the bid to replace the roof of the office building at a cost of $38,825.

Materials to rehab the ceilings in the office were purchased from Portsmouth Building Supply at a cost of $1,145.84.

The lowest bidder for the replacement of ASC’s building security system time lapse recording device was Standard Alarm of Huntington, West Virginia, who replaced our old recording device that used VRC tapes with a digital DVR at a cost of $2,200.

In February ASC took delivery of a 2010 Goshen GCII/Ford E450 Light Transit Vehicle from Tesco Bus Sales of Oregon, Ohio. The purchase price of the 12-passenger 3-wheelchair vehicle was $51,141.

The cost of the roof replacement, ceiling rehab, security recorder and vehicle were all paid for with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.

ASC also received $39,180 in federal grant funds to pay for 90% of vehicle maintenance costs in 2010.

Goals for 2010

The following goals have been established by ASC to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the transit system:

ASC met this goal with Trip Denials accounting for only 0.2% of the total annual trips in 2010.

3. Increase cost effectiveness by lowering the cost per mile to $2.60 or below.

4. Increase cost effectiveness by reducing the cost per passenger to $15.00 or less.

5. Increase cost effectiveness by increasing the farebox recovery ratio to at least 5%.

ASC did not meet this goal as the average ride time per passenger was 18.4 minutes.

Goals for 2011

The following goals have been established by ASC to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the transit system:

3. Promote better cost effectiveness by lowering the cost per mile to $2.60 or below.

4. Increase cost effectiveness by reducing the cost per passenger to $15.00 or less.

5. Improve cost effectiveness by achieving a farebox recovery ratio of at least 5%.

8. Maintain system safety by maintaining accidents below 1 per 100,000 miles traveled.

9. Promote system reliability by maintaining road calls below 1 per 100,000 miles traveled.

10. Improve system infrastructure by decreasing the number of vehicles in the fleet past their useful life from 4 to 0.

Conclusion

The past two years have been very financially challenging for ASC with very little margin for error as the operating budget had been cut to the bone in order to attempt to maintain service with the available funding.

Still reeling from the loss of contract revenue the previous year 2010 got off to a rocky start as higher fuel costs and other operating expenses made it apparent that ASC was heading for financial disaster if immediate action wasn’t taken.

Closing the office and cutting the office staff hours to 32-per week coupled with the continuation of the cost cutting measures enacted during the past few years provided enough savings for ASC to breakeven in 2010.

These actions came at a great personal financial cost of six very loyal and dedicated ASC employees whose sacrifice enabled the transit system to continue operating.

The outlook for ASC in 2011 is not any better and will continue to be bleak at best in the coming years.

There are five scenarios that threaten the financial future of ASC including:

Any one of these scenarios by itself could possibly cause the financial collapse of the transit system let alone any combination.

Cuts in state and federal funding:

The political change that occurred at both the state and federal levels during the November election and with massive budget deficits facing government at all levels, plus public outcry to cut spending it is hard to be optimistic about future funding levels.

New ODOT Director Jerry Wray has already announced that ODOT is rescinding the 3-year 150-million dollar pledge to Ohio’s 59 public transit systems made by former Governor Strickland’s administration to only 80-million.

According to Wray the state can’t afford the matching funds required to leverage the federal money.

ODOT officials have informed us that these cuts will not affect our 2011 state and federal allocation however there is a strong possibility that there will be future cuts that may affect ASC’s 2011 allocations.

Loss or reduction of the NEMT contract:

On June 30, 2011 the current Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) contract with the Scioto County Department of Job and Family Services (SCDJFS) will expire.

ASC will apply for a renewal of the NEMT contract that will run from July 1, 2011 until June 30, 2012. Winning the renewal of this contract is vital to the continued operation of ASC.

There are several threats to the renewal of the NEMT contract including budget cuts at the state level of all county JFS and calls for the reduction in Medicaid spending at the federal level.

Ohio’s new governor Kasich is one of 33- Republican governors who is pushing for elimination of the limits imposed by the new healthcare reform laws that reduces states ability to decrease Medicaid payments.

If successful states such as Ohio would be able to decrease or even possibly opt out of the Medicaid program.

If this happens it would mean decreased medical care for millions of poor and unemployed in Ohio and across the nation and it would spell disaster for ASC because the NEMT contract is funded through Medicaid funds.

The loss of the NEMT contract would certainly mean a dramatic cut back in services and more than likely the eventual shut down of the transit system.

Increased fuel costs:

Fuel costs were up over 21% from 2009 to 2010 and while oil industry experts predicted a modest 3-5% increase in fuel costs 2011 the current unrest in Egypt and the Mideast could cause fuel prices to skyrocket again.

$70,350 has been budgeted for fuel in 2011, however in the worst case scenario we could experience fuel costs closer to 2008 levels of well over $100,000.

If this happens it would be an economic disaster for ASC and would force more service cuts and again the possibility of the shutdown of the transit system.

Increased Health Insurance Costs

It was estimated that health insurance costs would increase some 3 to 5% in 2011, however the actual increase will be on the order of 19%.

The Commissioners gave ASC’s management the option to pass along the cost increase of the health insurance to the employees however ASC chose to absorb the cost, which added some extra $33,000 to the 2011 operating budget.

This unexpected cost increase will put a definite strain on an already tight budget in 2011.

Lack of availability of local funds

The continued inability to provide any local financial support will continue to be a threat to the survival of the transit system in 2011.

With the likelihood of state, federal and contract revenues sources being reduced in the coming years the survival of ASC may come down to the availability of local funds.

With the County still battling back from the current fiscal emergency status it is not reasonable to assume that the Commissioners will be in a position to help fund ASC anytime soon.

Many cuts have been made since 2008 by ASC in order to save money and keep the transit system operating.

All things considered ASC’s financial survival will continue to be tenuous at best during 2011 and more service cuts may be needed in an attempt to keep ASC in business.

It is clear, as reflected in ASC’s PTI ratings that all the service cuts have had very bad effect on the quality and the quantity that is offered by ASC.

The need for public transportation in Scioto County far exceeds the service provided by ASC.

The inability to properly fund ASC to provide service levels needed to meet the transportation needs of the area hurt the people who need it the most, the elderly, disabled and poor; however it seems to be the grim political reality of the times.

Unfortunately we are not in this predicament alone and there aren’t any easy answers to remedy the problem.

Everyone will be expected to share in the pain of a faltering economy unfortunately some people will suffer more than others especial the people in our community that depend on ASC to provide mobility and freedom that enables them to maintain their independence, take advantage of opportunities and to make their own life choices.