Staff photo / Bob Coupland Mike Salamone, Trumbull Transit Administrator, speaks at a meeting Wednesday at the Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission on various options for transit service for residents of the county. More than 25 people, including Trumbull County commissioners, attended the meeting.

WARREN — Three transportation options developed by Trumbull Transit Administrator Mike Salamone are being reviewed to see what will best serve the residents of the county.

Salamone hosted a meeting Wednesday at the Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission with more than 25 people, including the county commissioners and officials from other communities such as Girard, Vienna and Warren, where he received input.

The three options are having a county-run, in-house system, the county appointing a transit board or creating a regional transit authority such as WRTA.

Salamone, who will retire this year, said the current transit system is just for senior citizens, veterans and individuals with disabilities.

He said a regional transit authority (RTA) would cover multiple counties or cities, be governed by an independent board appointed by multiple officials, be high capacity regional connectivity and have higher funding potential with sales tax.

A county transit system would serve a single county, be governed by county commissioners or board, have local county access and be dependent on the county budget when awarding contracts and taking on debt.

He said in many regions such as Ohio, an RTA is a separate political subdivision capable of spanning multiple counties while a county system operates under the authority of a single county’s commissioners.

“Sales tax is one way for RTAs to run. There are also other ways besides a sales tax. There can be a county-run board, which has a budget, and a transit board, which also has a budget,” Salamone said.

Salamone said all information received will be taken back to the county commissioners for consideration at a future public meeting.

Carl Clemens of Howland, who sat on the local transit board for six years, said ideas need to be presented on how to govern a transit system and how to fund it.

He said it is important for different communities such as commissioners from Trumbull and Mahoning counties to work together and regionalize, which is a good option,

“There are many people in the community and county who need rides. Family members are not always available,” Clemens said.

He said most of the county is rural and he believes the rides are needed more for the urban areas.

County Commissioner Rick Hernandez said a transit service could come in to run the transportation service and not cost the county any money. He said the service could contract individually with other entities.

“There are passengers who need the service that are being missed in the current system,” Hernandez said.

Salamone said the Trumbull County Transit Board was dissolved in 2020, but it was able to receive state and federal grants annually.

He said with a transit system, contracts can be used with different agencies and human services organizations such as veterans’ offices to help transport their clients.

“Once you build the contracts up is how you build up the system. This will take time and not happen overnight but once it is done, the gates will open up for all kinds of state and federal grants,” Salamone said.

Warren resident Janet Hazlette said in 2023, in an eight-to-nine month period, the previous transportation service in the county transported a little less than 50,000 riders who are now missing from the current service because many routes were lost.

She said the Elm Road route in Warren provided between 15,000 and 16,000 rides five days a week, but that was one of the routes eliminated.

“The people who have lost those rides, we do not hear from them. They are either unaware or uninformed. When you lose transit, it includes loss of people to doctor’s offices, stores, and other businesses,” Hazlette said.

Salamone said the general public is being transported by taxi or Uber, which can be expensive, especially with costs during high-peak traffic periods. He said Trumbull Transit does as many medical trips for people in a week as possible and usually one nonmedical trip during the week.

“These people go out once a week. I would like to see more nonmedical trips for people,” Salamone said.

He said if there is an RTA, it would take a year to put it in place and get it up and running.

Salamone said he was glad there was feedback given at the meeting.

Any plan would go before the commissioners for a final decision.