With the recent cut of Saturday service and two regular routes ­— and uncertainty over whether it will be funded by the city after Oct. 1 — the NRoute public transit system has fallen on perhaps its hardest times since its inception four years ago.

Three part-time drivers were recently laid off due to the service cuts, and the city is demanding an independent audit of NRoute’s financial operations before releasing any of its $135,000 allocation in fiscal year 2011. Regardless, NRoute Executive Director Evelyn Bumpers said she doesn’t want those who rely on the public transit system to worry about losing bus service altogether.

“We’re not considering shutting down at all,” Bumpers said. “We’re doing everything we possibly can to make sure that this system is up and running and viable. But we can’t do it and keep running in the hole, and that’s why we had to make those tough decisions.”