Truly Tri-State — 05/10/08

May 09, 2008 03:11 pm

— Having a truly Tri-State bus system serving Ashland, Ironton, Huntington and points in between has been tried before without much success. However, with gasoline prices soaring to nearly $4 per gallon, the timing may be right for the launching of bus routes serving all three states. After all, with each increase in the price at the pump, taking the bus becomes a more appealing option.
The Tri-State Transit Authority has signed a contract with the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization to provide continuous bus service to Huntington and Ashland beginning July 1. It will be the first time in more than 20 years since bus routes connecting all three states have been tried, although buses operated by Ashland have always been able to connect in Catlettsburg with Tri-State Transit Authority buses serving Kenova, Ceredo and Huntington.
The Lawrence County Port Authority is the recipient of grants from the federal government and the state of Ohio to operate the new bus lines.
One route will run continuously between Ironton and Proctorville with stops at Pullman Square, St. Mary’s Hospital and Marshall University in Huntington, at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club in Burlington, at Ohio University-Southern and at Ironton Hills Plaza. In other words, it will enable residents of Ironton and Proctorville to take the bus to classes at Marshall University instead of driving to the campus and going through the hassle of finding a place to park.
The other route will connect Ironton with Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, the Ashland Wal-Mart, King’s Daughters Medical Center and with other routes operated by the Ashland Bus System.
Buses will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays with the initial fare projected to be 75 cents. (If gasoline prices continue to soar, there may be an increase in fares before the new routes pick up their first passengers.)
Will the new routes prove popular? Who can predict? Skeptics remember when routes connecting the three states were tried in the early 1980s, but they soon were discontinued because of a lack of ridership. However, times have changed. If the service is dependable and there are no long waits for the next bus to come along, we think far more people will ride the new routes than rode similar routes 25 years ago.
If the new routes do prove popular, steps should be taken to make them permanent by making the Tri-State Transit Authority live up to its name. Only by establishing a single authority over bus routes in all three states can a truly tri-state bus service become a permanent part of this region.
Lacking a crystal ball, we make no predictions about how popular the new routes will be. All we will say is that this is the ideal time to at least try to provide bus service to communities in all three states.