By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The people spoke. Officials heard.
And so – city officials are doing what they can to keep the Dial-A-Ride Transportation service rolling on Saturdays after receiving a strong response from the public, City Administrator Terry Eull said Thursday morning.
"Based upon the input of the people, the biggest thing was Saturday service," Eull said. Input included letters, phone calls and petitions.
The service has become a financial concern for the city, invoking rounds of changes to routes and hours of operations in the hopes of keeping buses running while keeping the numbers in the black.
Eull had speculated back in late August that if the city could not find a way to keep the service within the budget one possible change could be seeing a shift in control – stating that the county could take over operations.
But that is something that Eull, Dial-A-Ride and city officials have been trying to avoid. And though reports surfaced Thursday that Berrien County would be taking control of the service July 1 – Eull said that information is incorrect and confirmed the county would not be taking over.
The city held two public hearings on the Dial-A-Ride issue – the first of which had no turnout whatsoever. The second hearing, held last Thursday, Eull said, saw a turn out of just six people. However, phone calls and letters seemed to have made a significant impact.
Changes – which go into effect Dec. 1, Eull said, include the elimination of Route Two – the East/West route and trimming Saturday service down to on-demand only.
Route One – the North/South route will operate Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On-demand service will operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. And Saturday services – again, on-demand only – will operate from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"This plan," Eull said. "Is hopefully to stay within the allocated money." There is no way of telling just yet whether the amount of money the city sees to operate the service will change for the better – or worse – in the future. But that seems to be a bridge the officials will have to cross when they come to it.
The public can still give input to officials at Dial-A-Ride until Nov. 2.