Cincinnati Metro bracing for funding cuts; may reduce service - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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About $44.1 million – or abouf half of the bus service’s $94.5 million operating budget – comes from the city of Cincinnati’ds earnings tax, according to a Metro news releaseissued Tuesday. Basefd on the city’s projected earningx tax shortfall, Metro anticipates a reduction ofbetweehn $2 million and $3 millionh in that funding by 2010. And most Metro rides are related to employment orpersonal business. With unemploymengt hovering around 10 percent andbudgetds tight, the agency said ridership is So Metro also expects fare revenuw to be from $3 million to $5 millioh lower than budgeted.
In addition, Hamilton County has notified Metro thatit can’t provide 2009 general fund dollards for Access service for people with disabilities that goes beyonrd what the Americans with Disabilitiesz Act requires. The county has providecd funding for the additional service for thepast decade. That representse $233,000 in funding. The state of Ohio also has reduced the 2009 amounyt Metro receives for elderly and disabled fare subsidtby $137,000, the agency “For many years Metro has struggled to providde more service than it can afford,” Metrlo CEO Marilyn Shazor said in the news release.
“We’ves cut costs behind the increased fares and improvedservice We’ve dipped into our reserves and deferrede critical capital projects like bus These steps bought us time, but we can’ty overcome the additional losses in revenue. We must reassesw the level of service that we can reasonablgy provide within the newbudget reality.” Metro will spend the summer analyzin g options and talking with employees and others to help the agency make decisionds for the rest of 2009 and for the 2010 the news release said. “The financial modell is broken,” Shazor said in the release.
“We must right-siz Metro and provide the very best service we can withinh the resourceswe have.” Metr also is struggling with inadequater capital dollars to replace buses beyond their useful 12-year Even with stimulus dollars awarded this year for capital projects, the agency will not have enoug h money in 2010 to replace 69 buses that are beyond their usefukl life, the release said. Transit systems in Dayton, Cleveland, Atlanta, St.
San Francisco, Portland, Boston, Louisville, Phoenix, Minneapolis, New York, Chicago and other major marketsa also have either implemented or are consideringservice cuts, fare increases or both to addressd budget deficits since last fall, Metro said in the release. operated by the , provides bus service throughout Hamilton and portionsof Butler, Clermont and Warren counties.