AUBURN — The biggest changes due for Lewiston-Auburn’s Citylink bus system this fall shouldn’t be all that big.

Cost-saving measures designed to sideline one bus and reduce service by 12.5 hours per week should have their biggest impact in Auburn’s Minot Avenue route, according to Marsha Bennett, transit coordinator for the Lewiston-Auburn Transit Committee.

In Auburn, the Minot Avenue and New Auburn routes will combine, sacrificing trips up Western Avenue to Court Street.

“It takes 30 minutes to do that run now,” Bennett told a group of about 10 riders in Auburn Hall on Thursday evening. “To do that 30-minute run, we may see one passenger every four months get on a bus. So it’s not much of a loss.”

It’s part of the changes Bennett and the LATC are presenting to residents for the next few weeks. She hosted two meetings Thursday to discuss the new schedule — Thursday afternoon in Lewiston City Hall and Thursday evening in Auburn Hall. Both meetings were attended by about 10 people.

Bennett is taking public comment on the plan through September. Riders and residents can call her at 783-9186, email her at [email protected] or on the internet at www.purplebus.org

Riders should expect some changes to the system beginning Oct. 3. Bennett said the transit group is looking to create new bus route timetables for riders and put up street signs denoting new bus stops.

Auburn’s City Council voted to pay the system $53,000 less than the city of Lewiston for the 2016-17 fiscal year. That reduction cost matching federal money as well, with total cuts of $106,000.

“The City of Lewiston said don’t touch us, we fully funded you and we don’t want to see any changes,” Bennett said. “The transit committee honored that and that’s why the changes are being implemented in Auburn.”

The changes are positive for some riders, she said. Instead of looping up Western Avenue and Court Street to get back to Minot Avenue, the new route will go all the way out to Hotel Road on Minot Avenue, looping back via Manley Road. That will let the bus cover both sides of Minot Avenue, providing twice as many stops.

“There are numerous businesses out there that we do not serve,” she said. “Or, you have to cross four lanes of Minot Avenue, so good luck. So, this time, the bus will go out and comes back in on Minot Avenue.”

Buses along the New Auburn route would stay closer to the downtown, with stops at Cook and 8th streets eliminated. Bennett said there are no service cuts in Lewiston, but the bus to the Montello School will change. The school is served by the Main Street bus route, but will become part of the Sabattus Street route after Oct. 3.

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