BY SUSAN BROWN, Times of Northwest Indiana
sbrown@nwitimes.com
HAMMOND | Tuesday's wide-ranging, free-wheeling meeting between City Council members and regional transportation officials on the city's endangered bus service focused increasingly on what it will take for Hammond, Gary and East Chicago to come together to create a regional bus service.
Historically such attempts have failed from political standpoints, but the commonality the cities share today as a result of tax shortages and rising fuel costs may prove an incentive, said Regional Bus Authority President Dennis Rittenmeyer.
Rittenmeyer, now in his eighth year of advocating for a regional public transportation system, recalled a meeting within recent years when Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. met with Gary Mayor Rudy Clay and East Chicago Mayor George Pabey where McDermott was firm about his support of creating a regional system.
"The other mayors did not agree, and as of the other day, still did not agree," Rittenmeyer said.
In short order, Gary underwent a crisis with its bus system and now Hammond.
In both cases, Rittenmeyer said he was asked what the RBA was going to do about the cities' bus problems, and Rittenmeyer had to answer he could do nothing because the RBA, along with RDA, lacks the funding to offer assistance for long-term operational costs.
Obtaining the funding begins with finding the local matching money, which has been the drawback, he said.
In July, the RBA agreed to provide $1.5 million annually to operate expanded service from Gary to Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Hobart and Crown Point because "It's not just for Gary: it's for the region," according to RBA board member Charles Barbour as quoted in a previous news account.
Now along comes Hammond, where the bus system could be axed entirely in December if enough City Council members agree, Rittenmeyer said.
For Hammond, there is no solution the RBA can offer between now and Jan. 1 and possibly even after Jan. 1, he said. Nor would that timing fit within any time frame in which the Legislature could come to the rescue. "If there is to be a legislative solution, the session starts in January," he said.
"The only money we have right now is a grant made by the Regional Development Authority for four demonstration projects," he said.
Money has largely been spent on a regional automated dispatch center, regional routes, express bus service and obtaining designated recipient status for the RBA to be able to manage federal dollars for the numerous constituencies it covers.
Thus, the RBA has proposed a three-city plan in which Hammond, Gary and East Chicago continue to fund their bus systems, but turn over the funds to the RBA, which would assume management of the system. Contributions by each city would decline annually over a three- or four-year period at the end of which they would not longer be in the bus business.
The efficiencies generated by the consolidation could generate $500,000 or more in savings, which would be reinvested in the system while the RBA works with the state to obtain funding for a comprehensive rail and bus system.
Council President Dan Repay indicated the regional approach was a foremost issue along with the budget shortfall.
"How do we get to the point of getting to the infancy stage of regional transportation?" he said at Tuesday's meeting. "We need to have some type of service, but who pays for it and how do we get there?"