WILMINGTON — After meeting with state officials, Wilmington Mayor Pat Haley is looking to fix issues with the city’s transit department.
Haley told the News Journal that a few days before he took office, he received a letter from the Ohio Department of Transportation regarding a recent audit it did on the City of Wilmington’s transit system.
“They came in and they reviewed a lot of information — statistical, operations, budgeting — all those kinds of things,” said Haley. “So, they came in and … they have a ratings score … they rated Wilmington Transit System a high number.”
Haley described the high number as “it was the worst in the State of Ohio per small town.” He told the News Journal it was a “combination of factors” that led to this score. ODOT officials asked that as soon as Haley took office if they could meet to discuss this.
Among the issues included communication issues between ODOT officials and Transit System directors, operations, and budget management.
The meeting, which took place on Friday, Jan. 5, saw Haley meet with three ODOT officials to discuss the shortcomings of the transit system and the steps they would take to address them.
“We assured them we were going to immediately address these deficits that were cited in the audit,” said Haley, adding the ODOT officials seemed “elated” after the meeting.
One of the faults Haley shared was the transit app system that was “malfunctioning,” as he described it.
“It caused ridership to go down about 40%. It was confusing and ineffective,” he said.
He advised he met with the recently-appointed Transit System Director Jonathan McKay and they put a temporary halt on the app and returned to the Transit System’s previous method — calling the Transit System directly for pickup.
Haley advised they would be speaking with current and former transit personnel to see what else might need to be accomplished.
“I think we have (the Transit System) heading in the right direction,” said Haley. “It’s going to take work and we have a dedicated staff in place that’s going to work hard.”
Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574
