Tuesday was the first time Hannah Byers, a freshman Ball State University student, used the Muncie Indiana Transit System.
"I plan on riding it regularly," she said. "I don't have a car."
Despite growing ridership, MITS will eliminate several routes starting next Tuesday. The university community will not be affected as much as other parts of Muncie, Mary Gaston, assistant general manager of MITS, said.
"When we went into this process, we were concentrating on finding trips that we could eliminate and impact the fewest number of people," she said.
Ball State University students make up a large percentage of MITS ridership, Gaston said.
"The routes that serve campus, and most of the routes that serve the community are being used right now," she said. "It's sad to have to be making service cuts at all."
Gaston said MITS could lose more than $400,000 in its budget for 2009. In 2008, the system's budget was $7.38 million, Gaston said. The proposed budget for 2009 is $6.99 million. Gaston said the changes were needed because of property tax reform laws that cut the budgets for local governments, schools and other tax entities.
Gaston said the administration had considered other options such as charging Ball State students for rides or raising fares.
"So far throughout this year, even though fuel prices have increased over the year, we've been able to make cuts and keep pace with that," she said. "We could not even begin to make up as much in charging more fares as we would lose because of loss of riders (if fares were increased)."
During the past two years, MITS has served about two million riders annually, Gaston said.
"We're expecting the same for this year," she said.
Gaston said about 40 percent of MITS riders are students. However, the percentage includes students from Ball State, Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana Business College and Muncie area schools.
"I know the routes that serve Ball State are busy," she said.
Out of 16 routes, three drive through the campus, according to the MITS Web site.
The changes include the elimination of the downtown trolley, Gaston said. However, the trolleys will be used for home football games at Ball State and other special events such as Muncie Gras downtown.
Bus changesMore than a dozen MITS routes will be affected. MITS considered charging students before deciding to cut routes. For a complete list visit mitsbus.org
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