On Tuesday, Coos County Area Transit will expand its services in the Bay Area.

The bus service will start running its loop through North Bend and Coos Bay an hour earlier and finish 90 minutes later Monday through Friday.

CCAT Director Bruce Bennett said the service has been running at least five circuits a day on a fixed loop that provides transportation to 30 stops in Coos Bay and North Bend, including the Coos Bay Public Library, the Newmark Center, Southwestern Oregon Community College, Bay Area Hospital, North Bend Medical Center, The Mill Casino-Hotel and Pony Village Mall. With the expanded hours, from 7:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., the loop will include all of the same stops, but the bus will complete more than seven daily circuits.

The expanded service will remind Bay Area riders of the bus routes that were provided more than three years ago.

Bennett took over direction of CCAT in February 2002, at the end of a period of unprecedented growth for the nonprofit service agency. State and federal grants had subsidized purchases of buses and shelters. But when grant monies diminished and funding couldn't be used to cover payroll, CCAT had to drastically curtail service to keep operating.

CCAT pursued the possibility of becoming part of the county government and being funded through a tax base, but the agency encountered resistance from public officials and from taxpayers.

Bennett and other South Coast Business Employment Corporation personnel worked with the Coos County commissioners to turn CCAT into a non-taxing government entity, so that it could qualify for government insurance breaks and other benefits.

Then, through community fund-raising efforts, grants and advertising, CCAT was able to generate the $45,000 to $50,000 necessary to run one bus five days a week.

As CCAT beefed up its resources, more services were restored. Tuesday's extension of hours is the latest step in CCAT's move to enhance its operations.

Bennett said he hopes the new hours will make CCAT more attractive as a job commuter service.

The majority of CCAT's approximately 10,000 patrons last year were seniors, people with disabilities and students, Bennett said. Southwestern student Terry Byrd uses the bus service daily to commute from his home in downtown Coos Bay to the college campus. He said the expanded schedule will allow him to take more classes.

“I have to schedule everything according to the bus,” he said. “I can use the extra hour in the morning to go to the study lab, so this bus thing is a big issue for me.”

CCAT also is making other changes, including expanding hours for Dial-A-Ride. The service, which is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, is for those living within a quarter-mile of the regular loop. It will be available during the new operating hours.

The Lakeside shuttle, which currently operates on Tuesdays, will move to Wednesdays. And if CCAT adds another bus to its fleet later in the year, an older vehicle may put into use in Powers, allowing service there to be expanded. The weekly shuttle to Charleston also could be increased to two trips per week during the summer tourism season.

Bennett said he knows demand is there for more service to other areas, but funding doesn't allow for that expansion right now.

Bennett said rates will remain the same and that funding for extended service won't come from the riders. A contract operations grant is providing funding, along with contributions and grants from local businesses and governments, including Bay Area Hospital, and the cities of Coos Bay, Coquille and Bandon; and CCAT's efforts to better marshal its funds. Bennett said he expects the costs for the expanded hours to be about $14,000 for the rest of the year.

“We're confident we can do this through the biennium,” he said, but added, “There are no guarantees when you don't have a tax base.”

Funding remains one of the largest challenges for CCAT. Plans were developed in 2005 to expand CCAT's service hours but were delayed because of high gas prices. Fuel prices represent a significant chunk of its budget.

Bennett said that as an arm of the county government, CCAT is exempt from federal fuel taxes and is eligible to buy fuel through the county. Other county benefits, such as maintaining CCAT's vehicles, also help lower costs.

Bennett said CCAT will continue to juggle resources to provide as many services to Bay Area residents as possible.

“If transportation is ever going to grow in this area, it's going to have to have public financing,” he said.

In small communities, public transit is usually not well-developed, and exists as an outgrowth of services for seniors and people with disabilities.

“In the West, everybody values the right to get in their cars and go where they want to go,” said Bennett. “But 5 percent of the population is not able to afford a car and the related expenses.”

But Bennett said he would like to see more people use CCAT to commute to work or as an alternative to more expensive forms of transportation. If gas prices continue to rise, more people may need to use public transit. He said public transit can be a form of grassroots economic development, to boost the local economy.

“Communities that have it, we will be the beneficiaries if we stop to comprehend what transit can do for us,” he said.