HAMMOND | Despite icy conditions and next to no parking, more than 30 residents, many of them disabled, attended Thursday's public hearing on the reduction in service by Hammond Transit.

Transit Director Keith Matasovsky launched the hearing by explaining how the reductions, set to begin in January, were determined. The service ends July 1 should there be no rescue by the General Assembly.

Axed in Hammond was all Saturday service. Route 1, the most traveled in the city, will run only on a hourly basis. It includes stops at the Horseshoe Casino and the Hammond Marina, running from 106th and Ewing in Chicago and winding through Hammond and Whiting before picking up Calumet Avenue into Munster.

Matasovsky said Saturday ridership includes 60 percent of those who use the bus on weekdays. Eliminating the half-hour routes on Route 1 aligns the route with the others in the city. The question became who are you going to hurt the least, he later said.

The cuts were made necessary by the passage of House Bill 1001, the property tax relief legislation that has led to spending cuts in local government, Matasovsky said. "Hammond is feeling the pain of those cuts," he said.

Matasovsky said he had been led to expect the City Council would approve one more year of operation, but instead it cut the service from next year's budget. When the council met Nov. 17, it passed an ordinance funding the service with $400,000 in gaming dollars ending in June.

The reductions achieved cutting $200,000 from the budget in order to be able to operate within the $400,000 limit, he said. The fund will not be replenished if the department falls short of being able to operate through June.

With the decision appearing to be final, several attendees questioned why the public hearing was being held at all. Others pleaded for decision-makers to take another look at the proposed reductions, suggesting fare hikes or rerouting of the system as alternatives.

They feared Hammond not having a transit system will drive people out of the city and cause people to lose their jobs. "Why hurt people who have jobs?" asked Patrick Doan.

Claudia Del Rio, who is blind, said she moved to Hammond because it has a transit system. Del Rio is the mother a 5-year-old son. "We won't be able to take him to the movies or for pizza," she said.

Jonathan Bolt said he uses the bus system to make his medical appointments and also to make it to his National Guard unit.

"I'm blind, and I'm crippled, and I have to take a bus," said Nancy Patton who enjoys her Saturday outings to Wal-Mart or Target. "Why don't you cut back on the boat near here? I believe in keeping your money in your pocket."

Alice Flores said she had a car but had to give it up because of nerve damage from lifelong diabetes.

"I feel the value of a community is in what it provides to its citizens," she said.

Joan Crist, who teaches at Calumet College of St. Joseph, said she doesn't need to ride the bus, but is concerned for those who do. Crist said creative alternatives were needed, such as adding a $1 fee to monthly water bills. She questioned whether it was worth sacrificing people's welfare in the push toward a regional bus system.

It's unclear what impact Thursday's nearly two-hour public hearing can have. The emotional outpouring was held before the city's Board of Public Works & Safety.

"We have no authority over any of this," City Attorney Joseph O'Connor, who leads the board, said after the meeting.