The Cascades East Transit's Madras-Warm Springs Community Connector Shuttle will be eliminated as of Wednesday.

Scott Aycock with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council says budget cuts in the lack of funding caused them to shut down several routs in the past few months.  "It was originally slated to be cut on October first, like all the other services that were cut.  But in the period of time between then and the end of December, no additional funding was identified, and so we had to cut it. I’ll note, it's funded a little differently than the rest of the system in that warm springs, through grants, funds the entire amount of that. Elsewhere it's a cobbling. There’s no other source of funding for that shuttle."

He says the ridership just wasn't there to sustain the route.

Aycock says there may be a slight possibility of the route returning after the new fiscal year for them begins in July - but that's a remote possibility.

Also, he says they will begin a study on fares, which happen to be some of the lowest in the nation, so there could be an incremental increase on those.