The budget cuts continue and the latest may mean more of the area's disabled will be shut ins.

The Regional Transportation Commission is trying to close a $5.4 million-dollar hole in its budget, and Thursday its board was looking at a big hike in fares for it's R-T-C Access service for the handicapped.

RTC's Access service gives the disabled what they need most....mobility...offering door to door service to get them around town. It is costly however. At present a ride costs the passenger a buck 75. It may cost RTC ten times that amount.

Those kinds of numbers get harder to justify at a time when budgets and routes are being cut. The proposal today was to raise that $1.75 fare to $4 dollars for rides within a certain distance, $8 dollars outside that area.

The disabled showed up in force for the board meeting to make their case and won, if not a victory, at least a reduction in the increase.

The board voted for a 2-phase increase bringing those fares to $2-50 and $5 dollars then $3 and $6 dollars later in the year.

While that increase won't keep rider Paulette Brown from making doctor's appointments, it will cut down on other visits. "People will be homebound on fixed incomes. They don't have any money to waste on anthing that's not necessary."

The increase still leaves the budget short, so the RTC has more work ahead of it and it won't be easy.
"These are very difficult choices and its hard on the RTC to have to make this kind of recommendation," says RTC spokeswoman Felicia Archer.

One issue still unresolved is service to Reno/Tahoe Airport. The RTC is considering eliminating it altogether. That would, according to airport sources, leave Reno/Tahoe as the only airport of its size in the West without public transportation.

The matter was deferred to give time for the commission and the airport to work on a solution which may involve sending an existing RTC route through the airport along with some scheduling adjustments.

The board doesn't meet again until next month, though there could be talks in the interim on the airport service.

In the meantime the RTC could look for other unspent funds in their road building budget and possibly transfer some of those dollars into public transit. It's thought that solution may not offer a good deal of relief.