Claremont
To that end, the agency is seeking $30,000 from the city of Claremont for the fiscal year beginning on July 1.
“We expect to be here in the foreseeable future and continue to provide the service,” SWC Chief Development Officer Keith Thibault told the City Council on Wednesday night.
Key to the program’s sustainability is funding from the county and Claremont, Newport and Charlestown, the three community’s that the bus services. Local funding not only helps cover the service’s expenses, but also is required as a match for federal funding, Thibault said.
SWC revived the service, which had been sidelined by the closing of the Community Alliance Transportation Services, last October, and the City Council agreed to contribute $22,500 for the nine months remaining in the city’s fiscal year.
At the time, the city did not include any money in the municipal budget for the bus.
Sullivan County also put in $16,500 in addition to the $25,000 already in its budget for the current fiscal year.
Thibault said he hopes Claremont will provide $30,000 when the new fiscal year begins in July. The county has $50,000 in its proposed budget for next year, which is double what it approved last year, and Charlestown voters also approved $14,000 in March.
In Newport, voters will decide at Town Meeting on May 9 whether to double its amount to $10,000.
The Newport Charitable Foundation provided $15,000 this year.
Claremont City Manager Ryan McNutt did not say whether his proposed budget, which is expected to be ready for the council next week, includes the $30,000 request.
Thibault said other new revenues include $2,500 each from the Newport Service Organization and the owner of the Sugar River Mills apartments on Main Street in Claremont, Preservation of Affordable Housing.
“When the service shut down, their residents (Sugar River Mills) really felt it,” Thibault said on Thursday. “So they recognize the value of it.”
Thibault said the program also has been recertified to accept Medicaid rides.
“This greatly increases the revenue potential for the program,” Thibault wrote in a report to the council.
Another potential revenue stream is the “Adopt a Stop” program, which will seek funding from businesses and organizations that benefit from stops on the bus system.
“We expect to generate at least $25,000 from this effort,” Thibault said in the report.
SWC, which currently has two new buses, will get its third new bus next month in May and its fourth in the fall, giving it four new buses in a seven-bus fleet.
“We will have a young fleet and that will reduce our maintenance costs,” Thibault said.
SWC, which operates the service at the nonprofit’s Milestone building on Charlestown Road, also wants to integrate the service into the area’s economic goals.
“The goal is to expand and augment the economic development aspect,” Thibault said.
Thibault said transportation for students to get to internships or courses at River Valley Community College or women applying for jobs with the help of Turning Points Network are two examples where SWC could assist.
“We want to grow in a way to support the economy in the region in addition to helping people get to medical appointments,” Thibault said.
Terri Page, who recently was hired as the program manager for the transportation service, said ridership is strong in Claremont but has fallen off a bit in Newport with the closing of Connecticut Valley Home Care on John Stark Highway and its adult day-out program.
Page said she and her team are studying the route structure and looking at where the buses stop in an effort to maximize ridership and enhance the service.
SWC also operates a volunteer driver program throughout Sullivan County.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
