SEAT proposes big service reductions if state aid cut

Stonington, Three Rivers could be among losers if $670,000 is eliminated

Norwich — The Southeast Area Transit District board of directors is proposing a list of options for bus service reductions next year, including the elimination of Route 10 in Stonington, the Three Rivers express bus and all-night service and Sunday service, as it faces a potential $670,000 cut in state aid.

The SEAT board voted Wednesday to send the options to public hearings, which will be scheduled for early April, and it is expected to make a decision at its April 18 meeting.

“We don’t want to do this, but our hand is being forced by the state,” said SEAT board Chairman and Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel.

SEAT and other transit districts will see a 15 percent cut in state funding starting July 1, unless the General Assembly finds more revenue to make up for a shortfall in the state’s Special Transportation Fund.

SEAT General Manager Michael Carroll said the state Department of Transportation told SEAT on Tuesday to plan on that cut coming to pass, “so this will not be a very pleasant time for public transit in southeast Connecticut and also other transit districts.”

To absorb the cut, the SEAT board has proposed service reductions, including the elimination of weekday night service after 7 p.m. and all Sunday service and shortening Saturday hours so buses run only from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Under the proposal, the Route 10 bus in Stonington; the Three Rivers Community College Express 121, which runs between New London/ Groton and the community college in Norwich; and the St. Bernard bus (Route 109) would be eliminated.

Saturday morning service on the Route 101 bus, which includes stops in Norwich, at Mohegan Sun and in New London, would be eliminated. The Route 108 bus, which includes stops in New London and

Groton, at Olde Mistick Village and Foxwoods, would see its mid-day hours cut between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

SEAT also is proposing that the following buses run every two hours, instead of every hour, on Saturdays:

Route 5 (Industrial Park/ Norwichtown/Backus Hospital) Route 6 (West Side) Route 8 (Jewett City/Lisbon Landing/Lisbon Crossing)

Route 9 (Norwich/Lisbon Landing - Route 12)

Route 12 (Jefferson Avenue/Crystal Mall/New London Shopping Center/Senior Center)

Route 14 (New London Mall/Waterford Commons/ Crystal Mall/New London Shopping Center)

SEAT also is proposing to raise the price of the 31-day pass to $60.

To soften the effect of the cuts, the SEAT board is proposing to realign Runs 1/101 to provide service to Three Rivers and St. Bernard during bell times and implement earlier weekday start times on Run 2 (Norwich/Groton/New London - Route 12); Run 5; Run 12 and Run 14.

The transit district has been facing about three years of flat funding from the state, so even if the 15 percent cut is restored, SEAT still would need to make some service reductions, but they would be “less draconian” than under the 15 percent cut, Carroll said.

New London Mayor Michael Passero raised concerns over the cut to night service. “I think the night service cut is going to affect employment at the casinos because we’re going to be stranding people,” he said.

Steve Finton, dean of student services at Three Rivers, said by phone Thursday that the elimination of the Three Rivers Express bus would have a huge impact on students who rely on the bus for transportation.

“That would be incredibly bad news for Three Rivers students,” Finton said.

Many students don’t have cars and can’t afford gas and insurance, he said. The express bus was set up four years ago to cut down on students’ commutes and get them to school on time, whereas before it used to take students more than an hour to get to class.

Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons said Route 10, which goes from Olde Mistick Village to downtown Mystic through the borough of Stonington and over to Pawcatuck, serves a very small number of residents that the town cares about. The town is investigating whether there are more affordable ways to provide transportation services to those residents, as the annual cost to the town of operating Route 10 has increased from $5,000 to $25,000 in just five years and both the town and SEAT are facing potential state cuts.

With towns and cities facing state aid cuts, the chance of any of SEAT’s communities being able to provide more local funds for the transit district is remote, Simmons said.

While transit districts like SEAT are facing 15 percent cuts in state aid, the state is proposing fare increases but no service cuts for the bus lines it directly operates.

Carroll and McDaniel wrote comments to the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee calling the decision to cut transit districts and not cut state-operated systems “enormously unfair and extremely damaging to those TD services, their customers and the businesses and communities they serve.”

In addition to the bus changes, the state also is proposing to cancel, beginning July 1, weekend and off-peak weekday trains on Shore Line East and the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines of the Metro North New Haven Line, as well as implement rail fare increases, if the legislature doesn’t find more revenue for the Special Transportation Fund.