CATA Outlines Potential Service Cuts for Fall 2011

The potential scope of additional Centre Area Transportation Authority cuts is coming into sharper view, at least for the short term.

CATA reported in February that it probably will need to reduce service incrementally over the next three years, thanks to a drop-off in operating assistance from governmental sources. Those sources make up about half of CATA’s operating budget; the rest of its revenue comes from the fare box.

Appearing before State College Borough Council last week, CATA General Manager Hugh Mose outlined likely proposals for a round of cuts to begin this autumn. They include these ideas:

• The consolidation of two CATA bus routes — the Z and G routes — serving the Stormstown and Grays Woods areas.

• The discontinuation of the CATA route that serves University Park Airport, the AP route. Mose said it’s very lightly used.

• A streamlining of service in the North Atherton Street corridor. That doesn’t mean it would be scaled back, Mose said. Rather, he said, CATA may look to increase the number of V-route trips between Pattee Library and Vairo Boulevard, but also to cut the number of V-route trips that extend the whole way out to the Colonnade.

• A scaling-back of Saturday service on a variety of fronts, perhaps sending a bus down certain routes only once every 90 minutes.

‘If there’s a bright spot in this, it’s going to be that we’re going to do our very best to restore service to Centre Volunteers in Medicine,’ in Patton Township, Mose said. The medical clinic, geared to those without easy access to health care, lost its dedicated bus stop during a prior round of service cuts. Its director, Cheryl White, has lobbied for the restoration of a stop there.

CATA saw a number of modest service reductions in January. The planned incremental approach to service changes over the next several years is meant to be flexible, CATA officials have said, ‘should funding track differently than projected.’

The CATA board will hold public hearings and accept public input through multiple avenues before voting on any proposed service changes. Formal proposals for the autumn are expected to be put forth — from the CATA administration — in the coming weeks.

Earlier coverage

• CATA: More Transit-Service Cuts Likely in State College Area (Feb. 28, 2011)