NRoute is seeking $886,108 in federal transportation funds to operate the municipal transit system.

NRoute’s Board of Commissioners approved the proposed budget Wednesday. Executive director Evelyn Bumpers said the budget has to be submitted by March 5 to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which administers the federal funds. NRoute’s 2011 federal budget was $875,564.

Federal funds form the bulk of NRoute’s operating funds. The transportation system receives $135,000 from the City of Vicksburg and money from fares collected from bus riders.

Bumpers said the $886,108 includes $45,000 for a mobility manager, a federally funded position being cut because of money. She said the manager, who worked for the seven-county Central Mississippi Transportation District, coordinated transportation needs throughout the district.

Keeping the manager depends on five other transportation systems in the district each contributing $9,000 for the manager’s salary and benefits.

“We’ll only spend the money if the other systems contribute,” she told the board.

Besides the mobility manager, the budget projects $54,500 for capital expenses and $270,470 for administrative expenses, 80 percent of which are reimbursed by federal funds, Bumpers said. The budget projects $561,138 in operating expenses, which include salaries, insurance and fuel and equipment. She said 50 percent of those costs are covered by federal funds.

She also projects a $15,000 drop in fares, based on the drop in fares between fiscal 2009-10 and 2010-11. The 2010-11 fares were $13,616 less than the $51,217 collected in 2009-10.

“Hopefully, they will be better,” Bumpers said. “But it’s always better to project a decrease and then add an increase later.”

In a related matter, the board learned that ridership for the first five months of fiscal 2011-12 was higher than the same period for 2010-11. NRoute passengers for the first five months of the fiscal year totaled 14,596, or 485 more than the 14,111 the previous year. Fares, however, were $79 less than the previous year, from $15,727 in 2010-11 to $15,648 for the current fiscal year.

Part of the difference in fares, Bumpers said, is because some riders buy passes, which allow them to ride cheaper than paying a fare each time they get on a bus.

In other action, the board:

• Approved the financial report.

• Elected Alvin Taylor board president, Don Brown vice president and Mark Buys secretary.