County holds purple line hearing, responds to road problem
CUMBERLAND — Proposed changes to Allegany County Transit's Purple Line aim to tailor vehicle sizes to meet the needs of passengers.
A public hearing was held on the issue at Thursday's Allegany County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The Purple Line is planned to move from a fixed route to a demand and response service.
'Anytime we make any changes to our fixed route ... part of the (process) is a public hearing,' said Allegany County Director of Public Works Adam Patterson.
The route currently travels twice a week from Westernport, Barton, Lonaconing and Midland with one trip in the morning and another in the afternoon.
It's set to be replaced with a more customized option using Alltrans vehicles.
Under the proposal, trip times will be pre-scheduled to meet customers' needs.
Seating demands will determine vehicle size for the route.
'We think we'll find some efficiency in being able to send the right size bus,' Patterson said.
As a demand-response route, customers in the Georges Creek region will share their ride with other folks who travel to Cumberland.
The service will collect passengers who live within within a half-mile of Route 36 at their homes and take them to any destination in the Cumberland area that's on the Maryland side of the West Virginia line.
Cost will be $3 per one-way trip.
All transit buses are equipped with a wheelchair lift.
Patterson said he will present a formal proposal on the issue to the commissioners in a couple weeks.
In other county news:Mile Lane resident Brian Diehl said trucks used to mine coal in Pennsylvania are causing road problems for him and his neighbors.
'The new blacktop job from when the water lines were put in is now crumbling,' he said. 'They're breaking the edges off the road ... they don't stop at the stop sign.'
In January, one of the trucks broke down in the middle of Mile Lane and closed the road for more than seven hours, Diehl said.
He said on another occasion, one of the company's vehicles hit a telephone pole, which broke and landed in his yard.
'They're regularly hauling these oversized loads,' Diehl said.
Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett said the engineering department will examine the situation and assess damages.
The county will explore remediation and enforcement efforts, he said.
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