Lane Transit District has proposed a plan to cut its total services by 15 percent, a move that could eliminate 13 routes, raise fares and affect thousands of University staff and students.
The proposed cuts, which could occur in two phases starting in February and ending in September, are a result of three factors affecting LTD’s budget: increased demand for paratransit services, decreases in the payroll tax, and the unpredictable fluctuation of fuel costs in a struggling economy, said LTD Board President Michael Eyster. The cuts come at a time when more people are using LTD services than ever before, Eyster said. The LTD Board will vote on the proposed changes in November.

Students pay LTD $815,857 annually through mandatory student fees, and faculty pay about $194,000 for a contract allowing a University ID to double as a bus pass, according to University spokesperson Julie Brown.
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz explained that the cuts could cause increases in such group service rates by about 8 percent. “Significant problems for students exist throughout the transit system with the proposed cuts,” he said.
More faculty and staff would likely be affected by the proposed cuts than students would, according to Eyster. Among the routes that could be cut, however, are the Breeze, 76 and 79 routes – all routes frequently used by students.
University student Nick Pettet said he rides the Breeze every day, and noted how inconvenient it would be for him if the service was cut.
“I live up toward Santa Clara, so I take it from the Eugene Station to school and back to the Eugene Station everyday,” he said. “If the Breeze were shut down, that would make getting to campus a lot harder.”
Deleting routes would also cause more faculty and students to use transfer buses. Eyster said he has been told the deletion of some routes would cause some riders to add 30 to 45 minutes to their commute because of bus transfers.
Eyster said the LTD board is trying to make the cuts in services as convenient for people as possible by countering the deletion of some routes with added services to others. “I don’t think it will have a tremendously negative effect,” he said.
Eyster said the deletion of the 79 route, which runs down Kinsrow Avenue to Gateway Mall, will come with additional service added to the 79x route, which also runs down Kinsrow. Similarly, Eyster said the EmX would cover a great deal of the Breeze’s route.

LTD’s budget is composed of three different sources of funding: the payroll tax, revenue from fares, and other services such as ad revenue, Eyster said. The payroll tax accounts for about 80 percent of LTD’s revenue service, which makes decreases in the tax especially devastating to LTD.
But because of the faltering economy, LTD’s budget has “fluctuated wildly,” making it difficult for LTD to formulate a plan of proposed cuts.
Eyster also said the funding crisis LTD is facing is not restricted to Lane County. “The decline in the economy is having effects on transit across the country,” he said.
One of the main challenges LTD and other districts are facing is deciding where to make the cuts. Eyster said LTD often has to determine whether to make cuts on routes that people depend on for everything, such as going to the store or the doctor’s office, or routes people use to commute to work.
“It is very hard for me to vote against someone who uses the bus as a lifeline,” he said.
News reporter Jessie Higgins contributed to this report.
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