With hopes of adding security cameras to existing buses and purchasing radios for new buses to come, the NRoute public transit system is asking the Mississippi Department of Transportation for additional funds in the fiscal year that begins in October. Meanwhile, fares for single rides and bus passes will be raised by 33 percent in the next 30 days.

NRoute is required to submit a grant application package to state and federal transportation agencies each year. A mandatory public hearing, attended by no one, was held Wednesday and the grant application will soon be on its way to MDOT. NRoute receives the majority of its funding via grants administered by MDOT, and the public transit’s system’s request for funding in the next fiscal year is about $649,000.

“We usually don’t get the entire amount we request, but we always request enough for the purchases we want,” said NRoute Executive Director Evelyn Bumpers.

MDOT allocations to NRoute in the current fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30, are budgeted to be roughly $484,000. Contributions of $31,500 from the Warren County Board of Supervisors, $160,000 from the City of Vicksburg, other income and fares brings the operating budget total to about $781,348, Bumpers. said

If additional MDOT funds are approved and the city and county maintain current contributions, the fiscal year 2011 budget will be $1,159,000 — NRoute’s largest since its inception in June 2006.

NRoute began collecting money from bench advertising last month — albeit a modest $200 per month for the past three months — but Bumpers said she expects profits from advertising to increase in the coming year. The NRoute Transportation Commission also voted in September to get back into the private charter business, which could increase revenue. NRoute charges $50 per hour, per bus, with groups required to book each bus for a minimum of two hours.

Fare increases that will go into effect in the next 30 days will also generate more funds, Bumpers said.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to help ourselves,” said Bumpers. “We haven’t had any fare increases since we started, and I think they are fair. Maintenance costs are up and gas costs are up, but our contributions are down. In order for us to continue to provide the same level of service we either have to cut back on routes or raise fares.”

Single tickets are going to $2 from $1.50, while daily passes are going to $4 from $3. A weekly pass will cost $15 instead of $10, and a monthly pass will go for $35, up from $30. Ridership in fiscal year 2009 reached 57,866, by far an all-time high, with fares generating $50,400 or 6.5 percent of operational costs. The fiscal year previous, ridership was 33,504.

The City of Vicksburg scaled back its contribution by $60,000 this fiscal year. The county, meanwhile, trimmed its contribution by 10 percent — which it did across the board for all charities and outside agencies — and cuts at the state level might force the county board to reduce its contribution even further in fiscal year 2011.

The transit system has lost all corporate sponsors since garnering an initial $320,000 in tax-deductible pledges from local businesses at its inception. The original fleet of six mini-buses, purchased with a $1 million federal grant in 2006, was increased to nine in May 2008, while the number of routes grew from seven to nine in May 2007.

Initially operated as a department of the City of Vicksburg, NRoute was spun off as an independent utility in February 2007 and the transportation commission was formed in August 2007. NRoute’s nine buses currently operate weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., except holidays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Bumpers said a number of NRoute’s buses were broken into over the past year, and in most cases the stereo and CD player were stolen after windows were broken out. She said security cameras would help deter burglars and vandals, and would also increase the overall safety for all drivers and passengers. Additionally, three new buses on order to replace the oldest in the fleet will need to be outfitted with new radios.

The fiscal year 2011 budget, which has yet to be approved by the NRoute Transportation Commission, will include a 3 percent pay raise for NRoute’s 11 full-time and five part-time employees, said Bumpers. Employees also received a 3 percent pay increase in the current budget.

Bumpers said the transit service will consider contracting transportation services for Warren-Yazoo Mental Health in the coming year — another possible revenue stream — and will look at adding service at 1st through 5th streets North, off Clay Street. Services will possibly scaled back on routes 8 and 9 — the U.S. 61 South and Wisconsin Avenue/Porters Chapel Road routes — due to lack of use, Bumpers said. A plan to start a shuttle service from Vicksburg to Alcorn State University in Lorman is still being negotiated. 

Additionally, NRoute received $668,098 in federal stimulus money, and it is purchasing two 25-passenger busses, one 40-passenger bus, two trollies and $50,000 in shop materials with the funds. The trollies will be used downtown, but they have yet to be put out to bid and might not be in service until 2011, Bumpers said.

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com