Pictured at Wednesday’s press conference, from left, is Tioga County Legislative Chair Martha Sauerbrey and Tina Hager, transit specialist with C TRAN as they announce a new, shared services transit program between Tioga and Chemung County. (Review photo/Alexis Bortle)
At a press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 3, it was announced that with the coordination of shared transit services with the NY State Department of Transportation and Chemung and Tioga County governments, C TRAN was able to save the bus service between Owego, Waverly, Elmira and Sayre.
Earlier this year, the Tioga County Legislature voted to end its Ride Tioga bus service effective at midnight on Nov. 30. Around the same time, Chemung County’s C TRAN administration proposed the elimination of bus service in the Wellsburg-Waverly routes, effective by Nov. 30.
Both changes came as the result of changes in Medicaid transportation reimbursements. In the past, Medicaid patients in need of transportation would contact a call center run by the county. Both Tioga and Chemung counties often chose to transport Medicaid patients by bus. However, in an effort to save money through consolidation and centralization, the state gave control of dispatching for most counties to Medical Answering Services (MAS) in Syracuse. MAS decided that it was cheaper to send Medicaid patients by taxi and, as a result, Tioga County lost nearly half a million dollars from the funding that would have come from Medicaid patients.
In order to continue with its bus system, Tioga County would have had to use county funds to cover the close to $40,000 per month once covered by Medicaid. After considering route reductions and fare raises, on Sept. 18, the county legislature voted to discontinue the system.
In a press release Tioga County Legislative Chair Martha Sauerbrey stated, “Due to the Medicaid funding loss, Tioga County was unable to sustain our transit system both now and in the future.”
Chemung County also lost a considerable amount of money – around $1 million – due to the Medicaid dispatch centralization. Chemung County Transit Specialist Tina Hager, the administrator responsible for overseeing the county’s bus system, explained that Chemung’s buses were able to weather the funding losses partly because they receive some funding a little differently from Tioga and partly because “we are a little bigger system.”
Although Chemung County’s transportation system has survived, Hager said, “It’s been difficult.” Initially, the county planned to cut costs by limiting services. Hager said, “We reduced our routes and we had slated to discontinue what was then our Waverly run.” That particular run had been a low ridership run, Hager explained.
“When we were doing Wellsburg-Waverly we had an average of five riders per hour. It’s low ridership for us, but we’re used to traveling in more densely populated areas in Horseheads and Elmira,” she added.
Although C TRAN planned to cut the Wellsburg-Waverly route, upon hearing that Tioga County would be losing its system entirely, Chemung changed its plans.
Hager said, “We realized that if we partnered with Tioga and used some of their rural funding, then by working together and partnering we would be able to save some of the service.” By using some of the state and federal funding Tioga County’s bus system had been receiving, C TRAN was able to announce the creation of an Elmira to Owego route.
The new route – which runs only on weekdays – begins in Elmira, and then passes through Wellsburg, Waverly, Sayre, Nichols, and Owego. The bus will run three times per day from Elmira to Owego, and an additional run will cover just the Elmira to Sayre portion of the trip. Fares will be $3 from Elmira to Sayre and $6 from Elmira to Owego. The Owego stops currently include Front and Park Street and Broadway Road in front of Achieve.
The new routes began on Dec. 1. However, they are all considered pilot routes and will be reevaluated in mid-2015 to determine whether they should continue.
The new service will complement the Coach USA Shortline service that runs from Elmira to Waverly, Owego, and Binghamton and returns three times daily. This bus stop is located just around the corner from the C TRAN stop at Elizabeth Square, located outside of Broad Street Barber Shop and Coaches Pizza.
The new ride schedule is available to be viewed on the Chemung County Transit website at www.rideCTRAN.com.
Alexis Bortle, The Daily & Sunday Review, contributed to this story.
