By Erik Potter, Post-Tribune staff writer
The Regional Bus Authority is getting closer to taking over Gary's three regional bus routes, with officials on both sides saying Wednesday that a deal could be done as soon as May.
The RBA received funding from the Regional Development Authority to offer regional bus service, and the agency has seen the Gary Public Transportation Corp.'s regional routes as a natural service for them to pick up.
The actual effect passengers notice in the service remains to be seen.
Even though the RBA would pick up the financial burden of the routes -- putting up the local share needed to get federal and state matching money -- the GPTC would continue to operate the route, using the same buses and the same drivers as it does now.
However, the RBA is looking to expand the regional routes, possibly adding an additional bus and increasing the frequency of buses on the routes.
Gary does not track what each route costs to operate, and how the route expansion would affect the local cost isn't known, so the exact financial obligation the RBA would be accepting is still undetermined.
GPTC planning director David Wright estimated that the current local share is "probably in the six figures."
Remaining issues include determining service standards for the routes, how the buses would be branded, and exactly how the RBA's costs would be calculated.
Both Wright and RBA project director Ken Dallmeyer said an agreement could be reached in time for the RBA to approve it at its April meeting and the GPTC to approve it at its May meeting.