Synopsis: The Dial-A-Ride bus service in Morro Bay is not meeting the needs of some seniors, a public hearing was told, and the city staff and later the City Council are expected to take another look at its operations, which have been cut back as part of the city's 2010-11 budget.
Dial-A-Ride, the curb-to-curb transportation service that the city of Morro Bay has provided for seniors and others for over 30 years, is not working well after being cut back by the City Council as part of its 2010-11 budget reductions, some seniors say.
"It's not benefitting a lot of people," Pauline Stansbury, president of Morro Bay Seniors, told a city hearing to review Dial-A-Ride (DAR) on September 15. "People aren't getting picked up the way they used to."
One senior at the hearing, Robert Kleckner, said, "A lot of people our age can't drive or are handicapped. And we have to use a bus."
As a result of such feedback, the city staff that oversees transportation will review the program, and the Council will be informed in order to
obtain its assessment of what to do about it, Janeen Burlingame, the city's transportation management analyst, said.
But one question that wasn't asked at the Public Works Advisory Board hearing is: Why was Dial-A-Ride cut by $174,000 to a total of $137,000 for the 2010-11 fiscal year when the city budget at the time of adoption in June showed its reserve contained $176,000 more than the $2.8 million (27.5% of city's total general fund) required under its own rules?
"The city seems to be against the (DAR) bus," Kleckner told the Board.
The city staff was asked to comment about cutting DAR funding when excess funds were in the reserve, but no response was received.
The traditional DAR operated with no fixed routes and picked up students, seniors, and the disabled and delivered them to their destinations. The city vehicles took people of all ages door-to-door while making minor detours on the way to pick up and deliver other passengers traveling in the same general direction. Users were asked to call DAR at least two hours before seeking pickups the same day.
Under the replacement system, now named Call-A-Ride, which started on July 1, city vehicles use a fixed route, much like regular public buses do, although people can be picked up at their doors if they call for service a day ahead of time. The fixed route bus can go up to three-quarters of a mile off its set route to pick up or drop off riders, then return to its route before the next scheduled stop.
After the Council changed DAR to Call-A-Ride, Burlingame said, there had been an agreement between the Council and city staff that Call-A-Ride would be monitored to determine its effectiveness.
To announce the hearing on September 15, the city posted a notice prominently displayed on the face page of the city's web site, asking: "How Is Morro Bay Transit Doing? Now that you have tried the new Morro Bay Transit fixed route and Call-A-Ride service, what do you think of it?"
But only about six people apparently responded, all seniors, at the hearing. Kleckner said he and his wife do not have access to the internet. "I wonder why I didn't read about this (hearing) in the newspaper. I didn't see it." The city placed no notices of the hearing in any newspaper.
Others said few seniors have computers, which is why few attended. "A lot of seniors don't know what email is," Stansbury said.
She told the hearing that the Seniors office "had quite of few calls" indicating they felt Call-A-Ride was not as good as DAR. "People feel left out," she said. "People can have a last-minute doctor's appointment, and they can't get picked up."
She said her organization has been trying to find volunteers to drive seniors to where they need to go, if they were unable to schedule a pickup the day before. But volunteers have been difficult to find on short notice, she added, although the Seniors still will try to develop a backup system of drivers.
Susan Brown, manager of the transit system, said she is trying to work out a plan where people needing service could call the same day, and "we could try to fit them in."
But Burlingame noted that Brown's office had lost its receptionist among those whose jobs were eliminated in the budget cutbacks, and now Brown also has to serve as dispatcher, in addition to her other duties. "She is doing three people's jobs."
Bill Olson, a member of the board, said, "As you get old, you need some flexibility. There should be some way to leave a message (at the transit office) for a pickup."
Council member Noah Smukler told the hearing that he had talked with principal Janet Gould of Del Mar Elementary School, who said Call-A-Ride seemed to be working well for students.
