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PUBLIC TRANSIT FEELS GAS PINCH

By Marc G. Auber, Times West Virginian Staff Writer

FAIRMONT - It is no secret gasoline and diesel fuel prices have been headed skyward throughout the area during the last two weeks, and they're affecting pockets everywhere.

Commuters have been forced to tighten their grips on bank rolls each time they fill their tanks, but many have the option of cutting back on the miles.

But the Marion County school transportation system and the Fairmont/Marion County Transit Authority administrators do not have much of a choice -- miles are their business and the more the better.

Unless pump prices begin to moderate, they'll find themselves borrowing from other funds just to keep kids in the classroom and transit patrons out-and-about.

"We try to budget so that our funds work out pretty close to the figure in which we have installed," Don Shultz, administrative assistant for transportation for Marion County schools, said.

"What is going to happen is that I am going to have to withdraw funds from other parts of my budget to offset increased fuel costs," he said. "I will probably have to take some funds from our replacement parts. Instead of replacing parts (in buses), I will probably have to hold off."

Although it is too early to tell, this much he knows -- diesel, which is the sole fuel source for Marion County's 78-bus fleet, has increased by about 35 cents in the last 60-90 days.

He is currently paying Dafazio's, of Monongah, about 99 cents per gallon.

Doesn't sound like much?

Shultz said the buses travel more than 5,000 miles per day which means an additional cost of $8,000 per month at the current rate.

Extra-curricular activities cost him an additional 200,000 miles per year, which he termed a conservative number, intensifying his concerns.

It is his business to keep up with the details of rising fuel costs, and from what he has heard, the likelihood of a reprieve is dismal.

"From what I see in the news and the stock market and so forth, they think it is going to remain high like this through the peak of the summer," Shultz said. "The oil industry in general is seeing that people are still going to pay the price."

In his case, he must, but he acknowledged minimal cost relief does lie ahead.

"The way the money is reimbursed on the state level is that we get 85 percent of our operating cost," Shultz said. "This increase will comeback to me, but the first year you end up eating it because you are not going to be able to get that money back immediately."

Just like Shultz, manager Joe Rager of the Fairmont/Marion County Transit Authority knows buses, and has to make sure money is available to keep them circulating throughout the area.

And like Shultz, he is dealing with significantly risen fuel expenses.

"Most of these bigger buses only get eight miles to the gallon," he said. "We do feel the pinch. We have to take it from something else."

Rager estimated that his 26 buses, vans and maintenance vehicles register about 30,000 miles per month and said he, too, purchases fuel from Defazio's.

In any event, rising costs are adding about 25 percent to his expenditures, but, he is optimistic.

"It hurts us, but not as much as the independent people," Rager said. "We don't pay taxes or anything."

http://www.timeswv.com/localsto.html

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 21, 2000