PERRYSBURG, OH (Toledo News Now) - The city of Perrysburg is one step closer to having its transportation plan finalized. Tuesday night, the city council approved a resolution that will be sent out to contractors who can then submit their bid to work with the city.
Residents will have 3 different transit service alternatives available to them: there will be a fixed route in Perrysburg, a dial-a-ride option, and an ADA transit service.
Within sixty days, a transportation company will be chosen, and a final contract will be drafted for the November ballot. However, some residents are already concerned about the plan that has been drafted out for contractors.
"The services are less hours. The availability of buses, as my understanding, there aren't as many as far as any type of fixed service," said resident Becky Williams.
The city is trying to cut the cost of transportation for its residents. Under the new plan, taxpayers will be paying half of what they were paying for TARTA services, but residents fear that may have lowered the quality of services.
"We're supposed to get as good as service as TARTA had given the city of Perrysburg, or the availability of services for half the cost, I know that they're pushing for the half the cost part but I think what's suffering is the actual services that are actually going to be provided, or proposed to be provided," Williams explained.
Though council members approved the resolution, some did show concerns as well.
"Concerns from some of my fellow councilmen really revolve around the details of the service. And I tried to tell them today, that we could have put our deadline for this discussion two years from now, and we'd be having the exact same debates, because until you get the wheels on the ground it's truly impossible to figure out what the riders really, really want, what do they really need, where do they really wanna go," said Councilman Todd Grayson.
Council member Grayson says he plans to keep the contract flexible, to adjust services as issues present themselves:
"Nothing's going to be perfect on January 1 or January 10- there will be work around. That's a promise, but we'll get it right. The nice thing is we're going to have the flexibility inside this system, going into January, February, March of 2013 to do some tweeks and make sure riders are getting where they need to go."
Three transportation options will be made available to Perrysburg residents- ADA, dial-a-ride, and a fixed route, all ranging from $.50 to $2.
