WARREN — Western Reserve Transit Authority Director Dean Harris said he did not seek a new grant to extend two Warren bus routes beyond this year because there was no request made by either the city or Trumbull County.

Trumbull Transit Administrator Mike Salamone on Tuesday told commissioners that two bus routes that were reestablished in 2024 will end May 30. Trumbull County commissioners and Warren city officials in 2024 each agreed to provide $148,178.50 in local matches in order to maintain the routes. The local matches were for a $300,000 Ohio Department of Transportation grant.

“They did not request that this time, nor did they provide the local funding, so it’s hard to apply for a grant without the local match,” Harris said. “We would not apply unless they asked us to and told us they were going to provide the local match, so they did not offer that again this year.”

These funds were used to reestablish WRTA’s 73-West route, which travels West Market Street to Tod Avenue NW to Norwood Street to Northfield Avenue NW to Parkman Road, and its 74-Elm route, which travels High Street to Elm Road NW to the Walmart in Bazetta.

These routes, and two others, were eliminated in August 2023 when the state did not provide the federal dollars that paid for the bus services. The two routes were reestablished in March 2024.

Ridership on the Elm Road fixed route was 13,904 in 2024. Ridership on the Northwest Route was 9,796 in 2024.

WRTA’s Warren Express route, which is WRTA’s third most frequent route, will remain in operation. In 2024, ridership on the Warren Express route was 190,470.

Salamone, at a Trumbull County Transit meeting Wednesday, said some of the riders on the two routes being eliminated likely will qualify to participate in the county’s transit programs, which provides rides for elderly and disabled residents.

“These are not available for other residents who are not eligible for the senior services programs or those with disabilities that rode the WRTA buses to work or for shopping,” he said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Salamone said Trumbull Transit programs provided 40,170 rides in 2024. In 2023, Trumbull Transit provided 36,837 rides, meaning ridership for 2024 increased by more than 3,300. The per ride cost was about $34.

The majority of those rides, 24,840, were provided to people who were 65 or older. Approximately 2,200 rides were provided to persons between 60 and 64.

In 2024, Comfort Care-A-Van, which is one of Trumbull Transit’s major providers of transportation, received two grants that totaled $41,000. With those grants, it was able to provide an additional 805 senior trips.

“We only received nine complaints in 2024,” Salamone said. “The majority of those complaints were not ride related. They had to do with a dispatcher.”

Costs for providing transportation services in 2024 were $1,378,163.95.

AUSTINTOWN BUS STOP CHANGE

WRTA also announced this week that the bus stop in front of Dollar Tree next to Walmart in Austintown has been removed. Harris said the bus instead will pick up and drop off passengers along Mahoning Avenue, near the main entrance to the parking lot.

“This is a well-used stop and we hate to inconvenience our passengers, but we don’t own the

property. We must comply with the owner’s demand to remove the bus shelter and the stop,”

Harris said.

He said the decision is the result of complaints from the property owner, New Century Development Corp., about shoppers leaving debris and shopping carts in front of the store.

“They’re leaving (the carts) piled up there and I guess it was disruptive to the Dollar Tree,” Harris said.

New Century did not return a call seeking comment.

Harris said the route has not been interrupted, but the company will put a covering over the stop sign in front of the store, along with another sign to let bus riders know the stop has been moved.

“We couldn’t find a good location in that plaza area, so we had to move it up to Mahoning.”