Current Conditions
42°F - CLEAR
(441) (268) (167) (99) (94) (89) (74) (59) (48) (44) (33) (18) (3)
Red Rose Transit Authority buses had their tanks topped off Tuesday with diesel fuel costing $1.88 per gallon.
After paying $3.22 for fuel from April 1, 2008, through March 31, RRTA executive director Dave Kilmer is breathing easier these days.
"Hopefully, we won't see another spike like that again," he said.
RRTA locked in its $1.88-per-gallon rate in December, according to Kilmer. It kicked in April 1 and will last through March 31, 2010.
Kilmer estimated the reduced fuel price will save RRTA about $300,000 this year.
That savings, coupled with strong ridership numbers from fiscal year 2008-09, is allowing RRTA to hold the line on its fares for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Also, RRTA will maintain all of the services it now offers through the coming year.
"I'm expecting we will end this fiscal year with a four-percent increase in ridership," Kilmer said. "That's pretty good and it puts us in good shape for next year."
Helping with that boost in ridership was an incentive program run last September, which Kilmer said was wildly successful.
During that month, RRTA offered rides for 25 cents on all its bus routes.
The promotion caused ridership for the month to increase 37 percent over the same month in 2007.
Some of those riders apparently went back to their cars in October, but Kilmer said RRTA still saw good ridership numbers during the month following the promotion.
"You can't keep people out of their cars for too long with gas prices where they were last fall," he said.
Now, Kilmer said, the economy is taking its toll on RRTA.
After 10 straight months of increased ridership, RRTA saw its first decline in April, according to Kilmer.
(The monthly increases compare ridership during one month from one year to that same month from the previous year, such as January 2009 compared to January 2008.)
The number of riders in April was down 6.2 percent compared to the number from April 2008.
"The trend is going the other direction now," Kilmer said. "As the unemployment rate goes up, our ridership is softening."
RRTA provides over two million rides on its buses each year and 340,000 rides through its Shared Ride Service.
More than half of all the people who use RRTA's services are riding to and from work.
"If they're not going to work, they're not riding the bus," Kilmer said.
Still, RRTA is pushing forward with two construction projects this year that are expected to cost more than $20 million.
The first project is a $14-million expansion of RRTA's Queen Street Station to provide three new bus bays, a parking garage and space for Lancaster Museum of Art.
A privately developed residential condominium tower also has been proposed for the top of the garage.
The second project is the $8-million renovation of RRTA's headquarters off Dillerville Road.
Funding for both projects is coming from the federal and state governments.
Kilmer said RRTA expects to solicit construction bids for the projects by the end of the month, with work possibly beginning in September.
The renovation of the headquarters is expected to be finished by early 2011 and the downtown project should be finished later in the year, Kilmer said.
E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com
