Grant Transit Authority to trim routes
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald A Grant Transit Authority bus stops to pick up passengers at the GTA Moses Lake facility. Transit Authority officials eliminated some bus routes after a budget shortfall.
MOSES LAKE — The Grant Transit Authority is projecting a budget surplus in 2019, following a projected operating loss in 2018. The GTA made changes to its routes, including eliminating some, in response to the anticipated loss.
Projected expenses for 2019 are $4,757,275, with revenues projected at $4,795,580, a surplus of $38,305. Since 2018 isn’t over yet, the budget hasn’t been finalized, but projections for revenue are $4,936,338, and expenses are projected at $6,098,197, a loss of $1,616,859.
The loss required the GTA to use some of its reserves. Transit Authority director Michael Wagner said the GTA still has enough money. “Our current financial state is solid and remains well within the reserve guidelines recommended by the Washington State Transit Association,” Wagner wrote.
“The budget for 2019 is balanced and conservative allowing for replenishing of our reserves,” he wrote.
Transit Authority board member Don Myers said the board had to make some decisions in the fall. “We saw it coming,” Myers said, and the operating losses didn’t look like they were going to change. The solution was to look at routes that were being underutilized and make adjustments.
The GTA had expanded “quite rapidly,” Myers said, “trying to build a system that people would use.”
“We had attempted to promote new services and found insufficient ridership to continue,” Wagner wrote. “Those routes have been eliminated.” Most of those adjustments have been made. “Currently we do not anticipate any further changes to our service.”
Some routes have been retained but revised, including routes serving Grand Coulee, Mattawa and Wilson Creek. Some “long-distance routes are being moved to our DART, or Dial A Ride Transportation,” Wagner wrote. “Rather than buses traveling long distances for unknown ridership, we will have those areas for 48-hour call-in service in order that we know we have riders for the long distance we travel.”
The GTA has routes to Wenatchee and Ellensburg, and those will continue for at least two more years, Wagner wrote. “The routes to Wenatchee and Ellensburg are partially subsidized on four-year state grants and will continue until 2021, at which time we will evaluate the ridership and public benefit.”
The GTA also is looking at smaller buses, Myers said. Wagner said they’re also looking at more fuel-efficient vehicles. “We are moving our new fleet purchases to propane as clean-burning and cost-effective alternative fuel. Currently we have two new fleet vehicles and two more arriving that utilize this fuel.”
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.