Bellefonte-Area Residents Voice Concerns over Potential CATA Service Cuts

Nearly 30 people voiced concerns Tuesday night during a Centre Area Transportation Authority public hearing about potential service cuts in Bellefonte, Benner Township and Spring Township.

While some questioned whether it is CATA or the municipalities at fault for the possible discontinuation or reduction of services beginning July 1, all said they want a solution that will maintain public transportation in the greater Bellefonte area.

“It just seems like this whole thing is a backwards move,” resident John Palmer said. “For a community to not have public transportation is going backwards. People need it.”

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

According to the authority, the CATAGo microtransit, CATARide paratransit and CATACommute vanpool services contracted by the municipalities are operating at a significant deficit — last year totaling $378,713 combined — and the municipalities need to substantially increase their contributions to continue at the current level of service.

CATA was established by, and has primary responsibility to, the Centre Region municipalities of State College Borough and College, Ferguson, Harris and Patton Townships. While it is allowed to contract with other municipalities for services, it is not legally permitted to run deficits for them, CATA Executive Director David Rishel said.

So the cost of services must be covered by fares, state and federal subsidies and municipal contributions. In April 2023, Spring Township, dissatisfied with its local funding formula and the ask for increased payment, notified CATA of its intent to withdraw from the system as of June 30, 2024. Since then, Rishel said, CATA has been in talks with the township to try to find a compromise.

Benner Township, meanwhile, informed CATA it has no plans to increase its contribution and is considering withdrawing from the system, Rishel said. Bellefonte has pledged an additional $5,000 and wants to remain in the system.

Municipality	Total Trips	Cost	Fares	Local Match	Subsidies	Deficit
Bellefonte	41,100	$671,934	$58,651	$25,370	$365,400	$222,533
Benner Twp.	8,892	$144,367	$11,751	$6,188	$90,224	$36,199
Spring Twp.	23,190	$379,776	$32,465	$30,322	$197,008	$119,981

CATAGo, which has effectively replaced fixed route bus service to the Bellefonte/Pleasant Gap area in the last year, started in 2020 with two vans to serve the area. Demand has exploded, and it now operates six vans 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays.

Service will be reduced to two vans operating for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon on weekdays only, if Benner and Spring remain in the system at the same contribution level and Bellefonte’s payment increases by $5,000.

CATARide, which provides door-to-door rides for people over 65 or with disabilities would likely be discontinued in the three-municipality area, though users would be able to ride CATAGo, which operates accessible vans. The future of CATACommute, which Rishel said is largely used in the area by workers at the prison in Benner Township, is uncertain.

“CATA has been talking to the municipalities to try to find a sweet spot where we can try to maintain some services in the area at a level the municipalities are comfortable subsidizing,” Rishel said.

‘DON’T CUT US OFF’

The effects of significantly reduced or discontinued service would be far-reaching, speakers from among the packed crowd at Bellefonte’s Armory Building said on Tuesday.

Spring Township resident Dorothy Neff works at Cafe 210 West in State College and said she cannot ask friends to drive her to work everyday.

“Without the service in Spring Township, what am I going to do?” Neff said. “If I lose the chance to ride to work, then I would be forced to quit my job.”

Morgan Gheen, a Centre County drug and alcohol case manager who works with the DUI and drug courts, said the ramifications could be dire for participants in those programs. They are required to meet a rigid schedule that includes providing urine samples in Bellefonte and attending sober support meetings five days a week.

Since all have had their licenses suspended, most use CATAGo to get to Bellefonte.

“Limiting the services is not a feasible option for a lot of these guys,” Gheen said. “They could potentially end up in jail because they don’t have transportation, and that is not, in any universe, an OK compromise. There are plenty of people that do not have the ability to find any other form of transportation.”

Spring Township resident Mark Fraley runs the nonprofit Go Reentry, which helps the formerly incarcerated rebuild their lives and stay out of jail. Transportation, he said, is as much an obstacle for reentry as employment and housing.

“If you take transportation away the people I work with are going to be in a world of hurt,” he said. “…By investing in that we invest in the people’s lives that we work with.”

Connie Lazenby lives with a disability and relies on CATA services. She bristled at municipalities curtailing public transportation that is vital to their residents, and asked whether CATA had explored all potential funding opportunities.

“As a disabled woman I depend on CATA,” Lazenby said. “I cannot manage with two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. It won’t work, especially if I need urgent care.”

Several residents said diminishing public transportation would be short-sighted in places like Benner and Spring, which are experiencing a boom in residential and commercial growth.

Some questioned how the deficits had become so urgent in a seemingly short period of time and called for an audit of CATA. Among them was Joseph Mogus, who said residents “deserve an answer,” and pleaded for service to continue.

“Don’t cut us off with nothing. It’s inhuman,” Mogus said. “People won’t be able to get to work. They won’t be able to get to the doctor’s. There’s people on those buses that are blind. I don’t know what’s going to happen to them.”

Bellefonte resident Sharon Weisser also blamed CATA for “not running your business right.” She said she began using CATA 15 years ago as a single mother to save money, and since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three years ago she cannot drive at all.

“So now it’s not a choice. It’s a necessity,” Weisser said.

Reducing service would also impact riders inside and outside of the Bellefonte area, Bellefonte Borough Council member Joanne Tosti-Vasey said. There are no grocery stores within the borough, so some residents need CATAGo to get to Weis in Spring Township or Giant in Benner Township. And Centre Region residents would be hindered from visiting Bellefonte for work, shopping, dining and exploring historical sites.

Michelle Hamilton pointed out that the courthouse and most county government offices are in Bellefonte.

“You also are cutting off people in other parts of the county as well if you don’t have a better public transportation system,” Hamilton said.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Bellefonte Borough Council (6:30 p.m.) and the boards of supervisors in Benner and Spring townships (7 p.m.) each have regularly scheduled meetings on Monday. Tosti-Vasey said CATA would be discussed during Bellefonte’s meeting. Spring Township’s meeting agenda does not have CATA under new or old business, but lists Tuesday’s public hearing as an item of information. Benner Township’s agenda has not yet been published.

Rishel said whatever the end result may be, he expects final decisions on services for 2024-25 to be made in February.

“We need to resolve the issue fairly quickly because we have some contracting and budgeting decisions we have to make for the next year,” he said.

Gheen and others said they hope that resolution will maintain public transportation in the Bellefonte area.

“I understand that this fall’s on more than one person’s lap, but the bottom line is we need to do what we need to do to fix the problem and keep these services available to individuals as a whole all the time,” she said.