The city of Athens is considering a grant that could expand Athens Public Transit’s routes all the way to Chauncey and back, city officials said, but it has less than a month to secure the money.
Michael Lachman, manager for Athens Public Transit, presented at the Athens City Council meeting Monday evening to encourage council to apply for the Job Access Reverse Commute program, citing the high use of the current bus route from Columbus Road to The Plains as a reason to expand the program.
“What we’re looking for is to provide a bus system farther out into the county,” Lachman said. “(The Plains route) has really grown in popularity this year, going from 700 rides a month to 1,100 to 1,200.”
The grant money would be used to supplement operating costs for the new route, and to buy a new vehicle for the route.
In addition to further developing the current cross-county routes to the more rural areas of Athens County, the money from the grant would also pay for extended service hours.
The grant would also extend the operating hours of the current route to The Plains, allowing it to run later into the night. Currently, the route ends operations at 5:30 p.m., Lachman said, which inconveniences residents from rural areas who work in town.
The grant would come through both a federal and state match program, said Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd ward and mother of Will Drabold, staff member of The Post.
The grant would allow $130,500 for the program, but $45,000 would have to be paid up front to apply for the program.
Papai said the city plans to pay around $20,000 of that amount, and partner with Athens County Jobs and Family Services and the Athens County Commissioners for the rest of the fee, which will be matched later.
Lachman said the grant is competitive, and the city needs to act as soon as possible to make the May 7 deadline.
“There’s so much need and demand for this,” Lachman said. “If you live in Athens, you really have to ride this route around, and right now it doesn’t serve anyone with a 9 to 5 job as adequately as it could.”
Papai said that discussions for this new route have been in the works for a while, but the grant proposal has only just arisen from the state.
“We have had several sit-down conversations with interested parties on this,” Papai said.
Lachman said that despite that fact that the current Plains route only gives about 50 rides a day, he expects that if there were to be a route to Chauncey that it would serve around 30 riders per day — especially considering the fact that the route would have a direct stop at the Athens County Jobs and Family Services office in Millfield.
Mayor Paul Wiehl backed the idea, saying he has heard from many Chauncey residents who have inquired about transportation to and from the area.
“There’s a need for this out here,” Wiehl said.
@eockerman
eo300813@ohiou.edu
