On Monday, October 24, 2011, Laketran’s Board of Trustees voted to temporarily restore weeknight and Saturday in-county fixed route and Dial-a-Ride service for the holiday shopping season. The additional service will operate from Monday, November 14, 2011 through Saturday, January 14, 2012.

The extended hours temporarily restore services back to the levels Laketran operated before the start of the economic recession which resulted in significant losses in sales tax revenues leaving Laketran no alternative in 2009 but to reduce services.

“Based upon the progress of our Financial Recovery Plan, Laketran is now able to temporarily restore weeknight & Saturday fixed route and Dial-a-Ride service. We felt that restoring bus service during the holiday season would best serve the community to increase access to holiday job opportunities and encourage shopping in Lake County,” explained Ray Jurkowski, Laketran’s general manager.

The holiday season hours will temporarily extend weeknight service from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and bring back Saturday service from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday service will operate on two-hour headways, as it did prior to the 2009 service cuts included in Laketran’s Financial Recovery Plan.

“We are very pleased to be able to temporarily restore these services. Along with many other agencies, Laketran had a difficult decision to cut service to balance our budget during the current recession. We hope this reassures the community that our primary goal, while being good stewards of taxpayer funds, has been to bring service back to the community when the financial opportunity arises,” said board president, Kevin Malecek encouragingly.

For more information on Laketran’s extended hours, please call 1-888-LAKETRAN or 440-354-6100.