Lake County Times

Laketran has been named one of 26 recipients of the Ohio Department of Transportation's Urban Transit Program grant, as announced by State Representatives Jamie Callender and Daniel Troy. The program is designed to support urban transit agencies with expenses such as vehicle acquisition, preventative maintenance, and facility upgrades.

The total $23.15 million funding from the Urban Transit Program is sourced from the State’s General Revenue Fund, authorized by HB 33 (Edwards). Of this amount, $18.9 million is distributed proportionally based on approximately 13% of each system's Federal Transit Administration Urbanized Area Formula allocation. An additional $4.25 million is allocated to small urban areas based on population and ridership.

Laketran received a total of $948,946 in funding, which includes $532,416 in proportional funding and $416,530 in small urban bonus funding. This makes Laketran the sixth largest recipient of the UTP funds. Notably, this grant represents the largest sum Laketran has received through this program compared to previous years.

Ben Capelle, CEO of Laketran, expressed gratitude towards "State Representatives Callender and Troy, as well as Governor DeWine and Director Boratyn," for their commitment to public transportation. He stated that "the support provided through the Urban Transit Program ensures that we can better serve our community."

Laketran was established in 1974 and currently operates 155 vehicles across Lake County. In 2023 alone, it transported a total of 644,877 riders over 4,612,359 miles across various services including Dial-A-Ride and Park-N-Ride.

State Representative Callender emphasized the importance of reliable transportation in modern life: "By investing in local transit capacity," he said, "seniors are able to get to their doctors appointments" among other benefits.

Representative Troy added his perspective as a member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee: "These dollars going to LAKETRAN will certainly help them in maintaining and upgrading" essential services that enhance both citizen quality of life and local economic vitality.