The Butler Transit Authority hired a consulting firm to help negotiate a three-year budget for providing bus service to Pittsburgh with the state Department of Transportation.

Authority board members unanimously voted Tuesday to hire Delta Development Group of Mechanicsburg at a cost not to exceed $3,000 to assist in the negotiations.

PennDOT has provided a proposed budget for the existing commuter service to Pittsburgh and a planned route from Butler to Pittsburgh on Route 68 through Evans City and to Route 528 and then Interstate 79 south. The commuter service and the Route 68 service are known as a demonstration project.

The transit authority began operating the commuter service after Myers Coach Lines abruptly ended its service from Butler to Pittsburgh on Dec. 15. PennDOT contacted the authority on Dec. 1 and told the authority to start the commuter service on Dec. 18.

Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel commended the authority for starting the service on such short notice. He said the authority’s response was impressive.

PennDOT’s budget allocates no money to pay for leasing park and ride sites along the routes and for providing Wi-Fi service, and not enough money for marketing, said John Paul, authority executive director.

The authority is paying for the park and ride leases from its budget, but hopes PennDOT will reimburse those costs, Paul said.

The proposed budget allocates $10,000 for marketing for two years.

PennDOT stressed the need for marketing to attract riders, but $10,000 isn’t enough, Paul said.

A substantial number of riders will be needed to convince PennDOT to fund the services to Pittsburgh after the three-year demonstration project ends, Paul said.

He said ridership on local routes is down 6 percent so far in the first quarter of the year.

He said he hopes the negotiations will be completed in time for him to submit a plan to operate the demonstration project to PennDOT by March.

The Route 68 service will begin and a grant for the demonstration project will be in place by July 1 if PennDOT approves, Paul said.

The board ratified leasing a park and ride location for the commuter service at Glade Mill Presbyterian Church on Route 8 for $6,000 a year. The site is already in use and the church has already been paid, he said.

Leases for park and ride sites in Evans City and Forward Township are being negotiated and the authority is still looking for a park and ride site in the Cranberry Township area.