Butler County Regional Transit Authority (RTA) may try to partner with Miami University to allow residents to travel between Oxford and Hamilton, RTA Executive Director Carla Lakatos said.
This new idea was hatched after RTA's own project to provide a shuttle between the two cities was put on hold due to a lack of funding.
Funding was granted to the Butler County RTA by former Gov. Ted Strickland, but was rescinded by Gov. John Kasich's administration, said Alan Kyger, Oxford's economic development director.
Early in January, RTA was notified it would receive $198,900 for a new weekday shuttle that would run between Oxford and Hamilton for a $2 one-way fee.
The grant included funding for one fiscal year and a pledge from the Ohio Department of Transportation for the next two fiscal years, Lakatos said.
Since the funding cuts, planning of the program has stopped.
"When we were sending letters in support of funding (this project), I tried to make it clear that the route is important for students because of the Miami branch campuses in Hamilton, but also that it was important for the residents of Oxford to be able to get to the county seat in Hamilton when they may not have a car or the money for gas to get there," Kyger said.
The Kasich administration rescinded funding for nine different transportation projects in total.
RTA's shuttle would have had a 14-person capacity and made four round trips per day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The estimated cost was approximately $200,000 a year to run, Lakatos said. RTA is not currently eligible to receive state money due to a technicality of the state transit grant program. Because RTA did not receive funding in 2005, it is not on the list of state-funded transportation organizations.
Because of this, RTA may soon turn to the university.
"We're keeping an open outlook," RTA Operations Manager Matt Dutkevicz said. "We've had some conversations with the administration at the university about opening (the university shuttle) route to the public."
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The Miami shuttle service between the Oxford and Hamilton campuses is available only to students and faculty with university IDs, Lakatos said. She said she hopes RTA will be able to bring something to the table in terms of supporting the shuttle route and then possibly be able to open it to the public. RTA's proposal to the university would not include a proposed price for a one-way ticket.
"It's not a conversation we've had yet, but we've been trying to open that discussion for a time," Lakatos said.
Lakatos hopes RTA can develop a partnership with the university.
"This is a route we want to do," she said. "In these tough times, people really need to look at alternatives and creative ways of sharing a resource."
Miami junior Andy Halcomb said he is unsure about the viability of a partnership with RTA.
"I'm just concerned that students wouldn't be able to get to class on time if everyone is fighting for space on the shuttle," he said.
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