HAMMOND | About 40 residents showed up Saturday to decry plans to reduce and eliminate bus service that the Hammond Transit System provides.

Held at the Hammond Public Library, it was the second of two public hearings. Though the Hammond City Council already has voted to eliminate the service effective July 1, residents are hoping if they raise "enough commotion" about the issue, city leaders will rethink their decision and put it back in the budget. Some were in tears as they talked about what the service meant to them and their ability to get around the community.

"The mayor of Hammond has said he doesn't want to pay for transit," community activist George Janiec said. He hopes city officials reconsider the issue and find a way to fund the system, he said.

As it stands, the council voted to eliminate the service from its 2009 budget but found some casino money to extend services through June 30, Transit Director Keith Matasovsky said.

Bus service on Saturdays will end Dec. 31. Weekday services will continue another six months, funded through $400,000 in gaming dollars.

Residents at the meeting said the bus service is critical for the elderly or people with a disability to get groceries and medication or to see their doctors.

Ernie Dillon, a former Hammond city councilman and current Lake County councilman representing Hammond and Munster, said he supports a countywide system. Dillon said he is "deeply concerned" about the lack of public transportation.

He said there is legislation to consider a hotel/motel tax for funding transportation in Lake County, focusing on bus service in particular. The County Council has not reached a decision on the proposal yet.

Residents expressed a wish that casino dollars could be used to maintain bus service. They said the public hearings are "too little, too late." They said public transportation is critical and, rather than eliminating service, the city should add routes.

City employee Wanda Puckett said she is a single parent who has worked hard to keep her children off the street and in school. Her son Marcus Williams, who takes the bus to and from Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, asked a few of the politicians if they were in politics to serve the public, seek prestige or for the money.

Dillon stood up, opened his leather jacket wide and pointed to a duct-taped section on the upper right-hand side of the jacket, said he was a public servant and that's why he got into politics.

City Councilwoman Kim Poland, who was the only current Hammond council member to attend the meeting, said she supported the idea of using casino dollars to keep the transit system in place permanently.