ESCONDIDO
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More than 125 people – many of them disabled – attended a North County Transit District board meeting yesterday, nearly all of them upset about impending reductions in bus service.
Sixty-seven speakers told the board at Escondido City Hall that cuts to more than two dozen bus routes and elimination of the “Fast and Simple Transportation” dial-a-ride service to Encinitas, Vista, Fallbrook and Ramona would hurt them.
Jonathan Rouse, who uses a wheelchair, said he and his family depend on buses and FAST for work and play.
“If you take them away, we're stranded,” said Rouse, a Vista resident.
Speakers testified, some tearfully, that without the routes earmarked for cuts, they will be unable to get to their medical appointments.
Transit district planner Kurt Luhrsen said the agency has to reduce because it will take a $19 million hit in the upcoming year in combined funding cuts and increased fuel costs.
The district plans to cut its staff, and three senior managers received layoff notices last week.
Board member Dave Roberts of Solana Beach said many riders were under the impression that the district has more control of its finances than it does.
“We can only do the best we can,” Roberts said.
The board will discuss its operating and capital improvement budgets at 2 p.m. Thursday at its headquarters, 810 Mission Ave. in Oceanside.
Michael Burge: (760) 476-8230; michael.burge@uniontrib.com
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