The Chautauqua Area Regional Transit System is looking to acquire the existing downtown Jamestown Hub, located on East Third Street near the Jamestown Municipal Building.

Is CARTS, soon to be known as CHQ Transit, becoming the next Chautauqua County Airport?

Ridership has decreased 34.6% from 2019 to 2021. Some of that decrease can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, but how much? And until that question can be answered, county legislators and County Executive PJ Wendel should be careful how much money they pour into CARTS.

Money has been spent on a rebranding effort, changing the name from CARTS to CHQ Transit, with a new logo to come sometime this year. CHQ Transit will add three new clean-fuel hybrid trolleys to its fleet this year paid for with a $1.5 million state grant received roughly two years ago while also building a new transportation hub in Jamestown, creating a rider’s app and cashless fair system.

The biggest local expense in Wendel’s push to expand CHQ Transit is the construction of a new hub. For the past three years, CARTS has operated out of the former Ray Nelson service station at 215 E. Third St. when it became apparent parking CARTS buses in front of the National Comedy Center was not a viable plan — even though the renovation of the former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Station was originally to provide a downtown transportation hub. The county has purchased the former service station site for $160,000 and now is building a new hub on the site.

Perhaps CHQ Transit rebounds as county residents rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. And it’s possible that higher gas prices could mean more people riding CHQ Transit if they can do so cheaper than driving themselves.

Those things could happen. But county residents talked themselves into changes and investments at the county airport as well with the logic that perhaps this change or that addition would be what stemmed the tide of decreasing use of the airport. We shouldn’t make the same mistake twice. If CARTS ridership doesn’t rebound, then the county must look at alternatives.