Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity.

Sep 24, 2009 10:29

Since I was unable to get the interview I needed for the Laketran story in time for the last publication deadline, I've had time to overhaul the story and apply some of the things I've been learning in my news writing class.

Before

You'll have a long wait for a bus if you get out of class after 7 p.m. on Friday.

Laketran, Lake County's publicly-funded transit authority, has reduced hours and raised fares. Evening and weekend bus service was eliminated over the summer. The decision was made by Laketran's operations, management, and labor union. Cuts in service were made based on which services were used the least.

List of service changes (will be an inset)

• No service on all federally observed holidays

• No Saturday service

• No weekday evening service after 7:00 pm

• Elimination of the some scheduled Cleveland Express departures

• Route bus fare increase from $1.25 to $1.75.

* Dial-a-Ride regular fare increase to $10.00 each way

According to Rich Novotny, Dean of Student Activities, no changes are planned for the ongoing contract between Lakeland Community College and Laketran. Students can still ride Laketran fixed routes free of charge by presenting their Lakeland student ID.

Free rides are good, but service cuts still have an impact on students. No service on federal holidays means that some students will be out of luck on October 12. The college is open, but Laketran is closed in observance of Columbus Day.

“I used to take night classes, but now night classes are cut out,”
said Georgette Black, a Lakeland student who relies on Laketran. Also, she said, “I can’t go shopping at night."

If Black could go shopping, she'd be helping the transit authority. From 60 to 70% of the money for public transit in Ohio comes from sales tax. The economic recession reduced consumer spending, and that had a direct impact on Laketran.

“When you spend $100 at the mall, Laketran gets twenty-five cents. A single Dial-A-Ride costs $30 in tax subsidies, and we cover 360,000 [Dial-A-Ride rides] a year,” said Jessie Baginski, Communications Director for Laketran.

That means Lake County consumers need to spend over $1 million yearly
to fund Dial-A-Ride alone.

Dwindling state funding for public transportation has also hurt Laketran. Despite the recent passage of a bill allocating billions to the Ohio transportation budget, government spending on
public transit has fallen from $43.3 million in 2001 to just $13 million yearly.

“We had some money in reserve, but to maintain what was the existing
level of service, we would’ve depleted those funds before the next tax
levy had gone out,” Baginski said.

Laketran employees have also been affected by the service cuts.

“We had some staffing reductions,” said Baginski.

No further service changes are planned. Re-expansion of service will depend on the economy, but also on activism.

“There has to be personal responsibility for what’s available in a community, and if your community is lacking, you need to be the one to take action, to write a letter, to advocate, to become knowledgeable,” Baginski said.

Baginski encourages riders to write letters to federal, state and local legislators to let them know that public transportation is a worthwhile investment.

Detailed information about Ohio’s transportation budget can be found at Ohio.Gov and ohiopublictransit.org. Laketran press releases are published at http://laketran.com/media/news.

journalism, writing

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