By Victoria Stephens

Springfield Times Intern

Lane Transit District officials met with Springfield City Councilors about a budget deficit Monday evening in a work session.

Changes being considered to the LTD bus service for 2010-11 include several cost reduction proposals. LTD has approximately a $3 million budget deficit.

Under consideration are increasing fares, seeking additional federal, state and local funding and reduction of bus service. The latter would include cutting bus service hours by at least 20 percent, deletion and changing of routes, and reducing hours of service and less trip frequencies. Total service would drop by 55,763 hours under the current proposal.

"It leaves us with a dilemma," said Mike Eyster, LTD Board president. "We've put in for more stimulus money."

Routes scheduled for deletion include the Breeze, 3x River Road Station, and 8x Thurston Station, four school routes in the 400 series, 25, 30, 52 and 60. Some of these routes will be partially covered by changes being made to other routes.

In Springfield, major changes are slated for routes 12, 13, 18 and 19. The goal is to maintain core service areas while maintaining budgetary constraints.

The public will be able to comment on proposed changes before they are adopted in April. Public hearings are scheduled for Feb. 11, March 8 and April 12. Adopted changes are scheduled to go into effect by Sept. 2010, with some to start as soon as June. Final changes are planned to be implemented in January 2011 to correspond with the opening of the Gateway EmX route, currently in progress.

For more on this story and other news from around the Springfield area, be sure to pick up a copy of the Jan. 29 issue of Springfield Times, available at news racks and stores all around the area. Look under the 'Newspaper Locations' link on this site to find out where. To subscribe to the paper, call 741-7368 or stop by 741 Main St.