Belvidere-Rockford bus service could end next summer

BELVIDERE — Residents who are accustomed to travelling between Rockford and Belvidere by bus may have to find a different set of wheels next summer.

Rockford Mass Transit District’s bus service to Belvidere could end in 2015.

The route was launched in 2011 and about half of its funding comes from a nearly $175,000 federal Job Access Reverse Commute grant that will expire early next summer.

The remainder of the route’s costs are paid for with state and local funds.

Lisa Brown, a Rockford Mass Transit District representative, said the Belvidere route costs approximately $372,000 a year to operate.

Once the grant money is depleted in 2015, Brown said that 65 percent of the route’s operation costs will be covered with state funds. The remaining 45 percent, roughly $170,000, would need to be picked up by Belvidere or other local funding sources.

RMTD, Belvidere and Boone County representatives will not decide officially whether to continue funding until after Jan. 1.

Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain said that even though the bus service’s ridership has been slowly increasing, it is still not high enough to justify keeping the route without federal funding.

According to Brown, 15,168 people rode on the Belvidere route between June 30, 2013 and June 30, 2014. The year before, 14,455 people rode the Belvidere bus.

The Job Access Reverse Commute grant program was established to mitigate transportation issues for welfare recipients and people with low income seeking to obtain and maintain employment.

In lieu of a fixed-route bus service, Chamberlain has informally floated the idea to eventually seek federal grant funding to link Rockford and Belvidere through a shuttle bus service that would depart from a park-and-ride lot at the east-side Rockford bus transfer station.

The shuttle bus would bring Rockford riders to the proposed Belvidere Amtrak station. Chamberlain said there has not been any formal discussion on that proposal, and it would be unlikely for a shuttle service to be begin operating before frequent commuter rails between Rockford and Chicago are established.

“It would be very advantageous to have a shuttle bus that runs from Rockford to Belvidere,” Chamberlain said. “When you’re looking at multimodal transportation that serves a significant portion of the population, that’s looked upon favorably by the federal government when it comes to funding.”

Ben Stanley: 815-987-1369; bstanley@rrstar.com; @Ben_J_Stanley