Extra funding means Tulsa Transit no longer has to cut hours, but Lift service passengers will see a small difference.
An additional $210,000 from city council and a $20,000 donation meant Tulsa Transit could avoid fare hikes AND service cuts. Assistant General Manager Debbie Ruggles said a review showed buses were routinely getting back after their out-of-service time.
"And so while we were funded up to the 9 p.m. as we had been promised, we discovered that we needed to tweak our pickup times just slightly so that we could stay within our budget," Ruggles said.
The last pickup window for Lift will now be 7:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
"We were actually running 9:20 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 9:40 p.m. on many, many nights," Ruggles said. "That 15-minute tweak in pickup times allows us to keep to our 9 p.m. schedule."
Lift service is advertised to run until 9 p.m. The last pickup window is intended to get buses back to the garage by that time.
