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Show Kanab Hearing to Air Bus Future A public hearing will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Kanab to consider Continental Trailways' plans to end bus service between Richfield and Kanab. The company claims lack of business on the run is the reason for .the plan. On Jan. 17, the company ended service between Kanab and Flagstaff, Ariz. If its plans are approved by the Public Service Commissoin, service will also be terminated between Richfield and Kanab, leaving some 147 miles of communities without bus service. Bus agent Velma Abner at the Blue Pine Hotel in Panguitch said, that the company had notified agents of its intent to cease service. In Utah, however, where public transportation is regulated by the state's Public Service Commission, service continues until a public hearing set for February 22 in the Kane County courthouse in Kanab at 10 a.m. Since the PSCU reported that Trailways had failed to file their intent to discontinue the service with the commission, the company must continue the run until a ruling by the PSC determines if the run must be continued by the bus line. If at the hearing the PSCU decides the run is needed, the commission can order the company to continue j 'the run but permit it to raise rates in ! other parts of the state to help I compensate for the loss. Public support for continuing the service will be needed at the Kanab hearing, either in writing or in person to establish the need for the transportation along U.S. 89 south of , Richfield to Kanab, said Mrs. Abner. a' The bus service is used not only as transportation for passengers but for transporting freight also for same-day delivery, the only such speedy delivery service available. Garfield Memorial Hospital uses Trailways for transport of blood and (Continued on Page 2) Bus (Continued from Page 1) reports to and from Salt Lake City. In Panguitch at the Blue Pine trailways agency, Mrs. Abner reported that passengers and freight in 1983 had increased over 1982. She said that since the company had announced in January its intent to discontinue service, both had dropped off almost 70 percent. The company had dropped all names of towns served south of Richfield from its February directory, agents in scheduling passengers, she said. Loss of bus services will be opposed by representatives from Panguitch City at the Kanab hearing according to Panguitch City Manager Bruce Fullmer. Dorothy Ball at Family Life Services said that the state agency frequently uses Trailways to transport transients from the City or occasionally those who are ill to hospitals in Salt Lake for treatment or surgery when they have no other form of transportation. Where tranients are kept overnight In the county jail and then sent on their way by bus the following day, a lack of public transportation could mean that transients might have to be housed for several days while special transportation is arranged, possibly incurring more expense to the county. Mrs. Ball lamented the potential loss of service to the community saying, "It would be criminal to permit public transportation to stop serving small communities like ours." Mayor Mohr Christensen in Escalante said that a letter would be forthcoming from his community in support of continued service. He said he looks forward to the day when such public transportation could be extended to his city and on over Boulder Mountain to points north in Utah and east in Colorado. Mayor Laurie Dea Holley of Cannonville said she "would hate to see the loss of any services to the area. Mrs. Abner said that she had anticipated another increase in passengers served this summer as the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles promised more tourists to the area. She said she hopes people will attend the Tuesday morning Kanab hearing from the Garfield County area or make written comments. |