Chautauqua County is looking to accept a grant for reimbursement for lost ridership for the Chautauqua Area Rural Transit System during COVID-19 and a second grant which will help rebrand CARTS to county residents.

The two resolutions were approved by both the county’s Public Facilities and Audit and Control committees this week.

The grant for lost ridership is up to $2 million maximum.

“It allows us to get our CARTS system back up and running for Phase Three,” said Brad Bentley, director of Public Facilities. “It’s a large sum of money and it will get us through a fairly lengthy period of time.”

On Tuesday, when Phase Three officially began, CARTS announced that regular weekday service, including all city and rural routes, has resumed operations.

During the Public Facilities Committee meeting, Bentley was asked about safety precautions CARTS is taking. “As with most public transit systems, we’re all trying to figure it out. We do have decreased ridership.

We’ve taken extra steps on our buses to make sure that everyone rides with a face mask.”

They’re also installing plexiglass for the drivers and the buses are cleaned more frequently. “We encourage everyone to sit as far away from everyone while riding the bus. … You try to do what social distancing you can,” he said.

At this point, CARTS is not putting a limit on the number of riders. “We’ll be monitoring that,” said Bentley.

Legislator Chuck Nazzaro, D-Jamestown, said he does not expect Chautauqua County to gain $2 million, since their local match isn’t that high.

Bentley agreed, but said ridership is way down. He told the Audit and Control Committee ridership is around 50 percent.

“This is definitely going to help us keep our CARTS system running with the reduced revenue we’re seeing,” he said. “We need to make sure people can get to work and get to stores.”

The second resolution is for a $1.5 million grant to modernize and rebrand CARTS. “CARTS has been CARTS for a long time. It has a reputation but we want to make it more than its reputation is. … We really need it to be Chautauqua’s transit system for everybody. It’s not just for a certain group of people or function,” said Bentley.

He noted that CARTS is for Chautauqua County the way the mass transit system is for New York City.

“The rebranding would potentially come up with a new name for CARTS and hire a firm to figure that out and go toward implementing that rebranding,” he said.

Another part of the $1.5 million grant would go toward the purchase of clean-fuel hybrid trolley buses and associated equipment. The county previously announced that portion back in February.

The county would also use some of the grant money to develop technology so riders can use an app to find out exactly when a bus will arrive at a designated stop. “This is definitely going to increase the ridership and the usage,” said Bentley.

For riders that don’t own a smart phone, the county will still maintain a phone number for inquiries.

Finally, the $1.5 million grant would also be used to analyze the county’s routes to see if they should be adjusted for maximum ridership.

Legislator Terry Niebel said he supports the grant, but he cautions against changing the name. “It’s been known as CARTS since the mid-’70s,” he said. “You’ve got a brand name that’s been successfully used for the past 45 years.”

Bentley said there’s no guarantee the program would get a new name; the firm that would be hired rebrand the program would conduct a study to see what the best options are.