The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Transit to close its doors
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 12, 2007
After more than 20 years of service to thousands of riders covering countless miles and only two years after the construction of a new $700,000 facility, Milan Public Transit will likely close its doors at the end of the school year.
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During a budget work session Monday night, Milan City Council gave the nod to cut from next year's budget the transit department's $95,000 subsidy.
Unless the department's contracts are taken over by other transit companies, the subsidy cut will result in the laying off of nine drivers, a dispatcher, the transit director, and the disbursement of assets purchased using state and federal grants by the end of June, said Milan City Administrator Dan Bishop.
"The finances just aren't there," he said.
The council is looking to shave hundreds of thousands of dollars from next year's budget. The Milan Public Transit subsidy has been under scrutiny for months. The council put the transit building up for sale earlier this year, although Bishop said there has been little interest to date. In February, the council entered into an agreement with a Whitmore Lake company, People's Express, to take over Milan Public Transit's specialized services contracts and the Saline schools contract.
Bishop has been in talks for months with Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and other transit companies, trying to broker a deal that would see Milan Public Transit's ridership contracts subsumed.
Bishop said AATA might assume the contracts in October, but there was no set agreement yet.
Council Trustee Michael Armitage, who Monday night confirmed his intent to run for mayor in November, said the reality of the city's budget straits forced council's hand.
"It's just got to the point where we can't afford it anymore," Armitage said. "It's not a wise business decision in our economy to keep running it. It's a luxury we can't afford anymore."
Armitage said school-age children who live within walking distance of the schools make up the majority of Milan Public Transit's ridership. Council believed shutting the department down at the end of the school year would allow parents time to come up with alternate transportation in the fall.
"Traditionally, our summer routes are fewer," said Armitage. "This gives people enough time and warning."
Senior citizens also rely on the service for transportation to doctor's appointments and for other errands, but Armitage said alternative transportation is available through Huron Valley Ambulance's Health Van, which services Washtenaw, western Wayne, and southeast Oakland Counties.
"I think it is very sad to see the transit terminate service," said former director Michael Albig, who resigned last year. "Many citizens of both Saline and Milan have learned to depend on that service for transportation to the hospital, the doctor's office, the food store or the bank."
At the peak of its activity, Milan Public Transit carried close to 50,000 passengers a year, around 35 percent of who were disabled.
The closure of Milan Public Transit comes even as there is a push at the state level for increased consolidation of services among municipalities.
At the work session, Armitage proposed introducing a millage on the November ballot to support the public transit system as opposed to pulling the subsidy out of the general fund, but in the end council concluded the money was not available to support Milan Public Transit through the summer.
The council entered the session $106,000 in the red, Bishop said, and emerged closer to a balanced budget.
"We now believe that with some of the tentative moves we made last night we may be in neutral," he said.
Bishop is now looking at how to dispose of the transit department's assets, including its nine buses.
The buses and other equipment purchased with capital grants from state and federal agencies cannot be sold.
"There is a lot of interest from transit companies in the free buses," Bishop said. "There's a lot of work still to be done on this."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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