Several county officials got up early on Thursday morning to ride on a Butler Transit Authority bus to Pittsburgh — and hear passenger input during the trip.

County commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel, plus chief of economic development and planning Mark Gordon and transit authority executive director John Paul hopped on the compressed natural gas bus in the frigid dark of the early morning to chat with four passengers with a combined ridership of 85 years.

The passengers formerly rode on Myers Coach Lines buses for decades, but the company abruptly ended its Pittsburgh trips on Dec. 15.

The longtime Myers passengers had many concerns about the new service, so the county commissioners, who are part of the authority's board of directors, decided to invite a handful of passengers to join them on a separate bus to work on Thursday so the passengers' concerns could be aired.

Osche said the county and authority will continue to work toward providing optimum service while satisfying the many entities involved in transit.

“There are so many things that have to be worked out,” Osche said, “but we'll get there.”