In times of tight budgets, officials hope the summit will help figure out just how far transit dollars will go in Carroll County -- figuratively and literally.

Doug Howard, executive director of CATS, said even though the Nov. 14 summit was scheduled months ago, it came at a good time, since the Maryland Transportation Authority recently announced a cut of about $200,000 in annual funding for CATS.

"It really gave everyone an opportunity to figure out where we are headed and to discuss how we can make up for that (cut) with other funding or adjustments in service," Howard said.

"This gave the county and the state a close look at where CATS is headed," Howard said.

"We have a very strong partnership with the county and with MTA," Howard added. "That makes it much easier when these challenges come up and we have to figure out how to do more with less while continuing to best serve our clients."

Howard said it's unclear how MTA's reduced funding will impact plans to improve and expand CATS' service. Those plans have included new, state-of-the art software and mobile data terminals that will be installed in CATS vehicles to track locations and drive times, while also capturing data to help make service more responsive and cost-efficient.

Funding for the software and data terminals has already been allocated; Howard said he expects to have it in use next year.

Funding for eight new vehicles is also in place. Five are scheduled to go into service in January and the remaining three will be brought on line later in 2009.

"One third of our fleet is being replaced," Howard said. "This will reduce repair and maintenance costs, increase fuel efficiencies and extend the overall life of our fleet.

CATS also has a grant application pending that would fund four new wheelchair vans in 2010 and 2011. Howard said it's a crucial need; CATS has provided 85,000 wheelchair trips so far this year.

CATS also recently reduced its rates and added Saturday service.

The key casualty of the budget cuts will likely be a marketing program to raise CATS' profile. Howard said that effort "will be deferred for a while."

The transportation summit, held at the county's Non-Profit Center, included presentations under the heading of "Designing Transportation for 2010."

Speakers included Steve Horn, director of the county's planning department; Lenny Howard, MTA manager of statewide planning and Louise Tinkler, MTA chief of regional planning.

CATS provides service throughout the county, through both fixed routes and "response-and-demand service."

Response and demand is a service through which riders call ahead and schedule a trip from one place to another, almost as they would with a taxi cab.

Howard said he also wants CATS' long-range plans to focus more on meeting the transportation needs of the county's workforce and college students, particularly those attending Carroll Community College.

Becky Morrow, director of CCC's adult education programs, spoke at the summit and said CATS has already provided more than 1,000 demand-and-response rides to and from the community college during the current semester alone.

Morrow estimated that about 40 or 50 CCC students per day use CATS' fixed route service to get to and from the college.

"Those are particular areas where we have a tremendous opportunity for growth," Howard added.

CATS' proposed new schedules for South Carroll and Westminster shuttles were also distributed at the summit and participants were invited to comment on them or suggest changes.

"Your input will help in shaping our plans for the future, both short-term and long-term," Howard said.

For more information on the Carroll Area Transit System, including routes, schedules, fares and services, visit the Web site www.carrolltransit.org, call 410-876-7433 or e-mail GoByCATS@aol.com.