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For years, federal transit operating subsidies have been flat, which led Amtran General Manager Eric Wolf to be conservative in providing bus service, to avoid the need to scale back or lay off workers if there's a funding blip.
Wolf can now afford to be bolder, because of the annual funding increases that will be coming to agencies like his, based on the recently approved Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Amtran will get about $300,000 this year from the IIJA for operating expenses, increasing its federal operating subsidy to $1.3 million and helping ensure that potential service expansions to northern and southern Blair County can endure, if there's enough ridership.
Those possibilities are being discussed by a recently convened stakeholder committee charged with developing a Transit Development Plan -- updating one from a decade ago.
The committee has talked about the possible extension of service north to Bellwood, Tipton and Tyrone, as well as south to the Roaring Spring and Martinsburg areas -- especially the Altoona Blair County Airport, according to Wolf and Deputy CEO Josh Baker, who spoke at a meeting Wednesday.
The interest in service to the north is stronger, emanating from companies in the Tyrone area, Baker said.
Such service expansions wouldn't necessarily consist of fixed routes at regular intervals with big buses, like the service around Altoona, officials have said.
Rather, there could be variable routes, at intervals tailored to the needs of specific riders or groups of riders, perhaps using the organization's new Ford Transit van or other such vehicles, officials said.
The service could be flexible enough to accommodate specific requests from particular riders on specific days, officials said.
Amtran tried expansions to Tyrone and Martinsburg 20 years ago, but it dropped them due to lack of ridership.
"Perhaps things have changed," Wolf said.
Amtran is also exploring the possibility of cooperating with the Centre Area Transportation Authority, which currently provides vans that local commuters use to go from Blair County to Centre County, and with the Cambria County Transit Authority, which provides at least one connection to a local institution, Baker said.
He's not sure what form such cooperation could take, Baker said.
In recent times, Wolf has felt constrained because of the flat funding, which made it unwise to provide maximum service without sufficient cushion to absorb subsidy fluctuations.
He didn't want riders who'd come to depend on certain routes at certain times to end up "stranded" due to service cuts, he said.
He especially didn't want to lay off employees, he said.
"I hate laying off people," he said.
The additional funding, which is expected to be long-term, provides the needed cushion, Wolf said.
It provides a chance to do things "that I had only hoped to try (again)," he said. "It's a great feeling."
The stakeholder committee includes representatives from the Amtran board, the Altoona Area School District, Penn State Altoona and City Council, as well as several individuals from the consultant company, Foursquare ITP: Integrated Transportation Planning of Maryland, Baker said.
Foursquare will be analyzing budget ramifications of the potential service expansions in terms of additional staffing and equipment, according to Baker and Wolf.
In addition to the $300,000 boost in annual operating subsidy, the IIJA is providing Amtran with $197,000 for capital projects this year, according to Wolf and a news release from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.