Transit provider cuts ride service

NORWALK — A transit provider recently stopped offering public transportation service in Huron County. It's a decision the organization says was driven by declining local financial support and repeated unauthorized access to its leased office space in Norwalk. North Central Area Transit is a not-for-profit charitable organization that has provided public transportation across Crawford, Huron and Seneca counties, according to its website. The agency describes its mission as offering "a safe, reliable, affordable, accessible and efficient transportation system." In an interview Wednesday, staff for the agency — known by the acronym NCAT — said the agency's director, Mary Habig, was unavailable but provided a statement explaining the decision. "It was the declining local match funds and the fact that despite previous warnings, unauthorized people continued to enter the NCAT leased premises," the statement read. "These were the two major factors in the decision. "While our general public usage is up, a decline in local financial contributions has hampered our ability to utilize federal dollars, which was impacting our service," she said. Local match funds fell as certain agency trips declined NCAT assistant director Kelsie Schleter said that while ridership remained strong, the loss of matching dollars, particularly from Huron County Job and Family Services, which paid NCAT for rides taken by the agency's clients, created a financial gap the agency could not absorb. "Our trips with the (county jobs and family services), they declined drastically," Schleter said. "And without local match funds, we can't operate." Another agency that paid NCAT for rides taken by its clients was the Huron County Board of Developmental Disabilities. When asked whether the board also reduced its match participation, Schleter clarified that its ridership remained steady. "The Board of Developmental Disabilities, we didn't have a decline in services with them. It was with Job and Family Services," she said. Facility-access dispute involved county maintenance staff The statement also cited ongoing problems at its leased facility at 306 South Norwalk Road West, a building owned by the Huron County Commissioners. According to the statement, "unauthorized people continued to enter the North Central Area Transit's leased premises." Schleter confirmed those individuals were members of the county maintenance department. "They kept entering our space without authorization from us to enter," she said. Calls to the Huron County Engineer's Office and the Huron County Commissioners' Office seeking comment on what transpired and what the county planned to do in response to the service cut were not returned by press time Monday.