Patricia Tindall, director of Pleasant Senior Center, announced that changes in the Senior Citizen bus program have begun, and will soon be more widely advertised. Tindall came to the Oct. 6 County Commission meeting to let the commissioners know the changes were imminent.
Tindall confirmed the senior center did receive the 5311 grant funds they applied for. The senior center has received funds for a senior bus program for a number of years, under a slightly different grant (5310), which is no longer available.
In order to continue to provide bus service for seniors (60+) and residents with disabilities, the senior center applied for the new grant funding, which was awarded, but will require changes to the bus service.
The new grant requires that the money be used to provide transportation in rural areas with no age limit or other qualifier. So, the senior citizens' buses will will now transport any resident for a relatively small fee, $1.50 per ride.
The fare for seniors and those with disabilities will be subsidized by a different grant and will be 75 cents per ride.
Coupon books will be available with multiple tickets for riders' convenience, otherwise exact change for fares will be required.
"We'll be advertising that the program is now open to anyone in Humboldt County," Tindall said.
For now, the basics of the transit system will remain the same; they are currently not opening any new routes or expanding existing routes.
"We have to prioritize disabled and elderly and medical, therapy, and pharmacy appointments," said Tindall. "Anyone can call for a ride with a 24-hour notice and we'll schedule their rides according to their appointments."
Anyone with limited mobility should mention that fact when making appointments for a ride so they know they'll need to use the wheelchair lift, Tindall emphasized.
"We're offering a semi fixed route to shopping," she explained. "Tuesday we'll go to Walmart, Wednesday to Raley's, and Thursday to Khoury's."
Clients just need to call ahead, say they want to go to the shopping center scheduled for that day, and they can be picked up at their home. They'll have about an hour at the shopping center and then the bus will take them home.
Children up to 5 will ride free with a paying adult. Anyone over 14 can ride without supervision, however, between 14 and 18, a parent or guardian must call to make the appointment for them.
"In the future, we're hoping to set specific days to go to outlying areas," Tindall said. "One of the first two areas would be the Grass Valley area; we would go all the way down Grass Valley Road to bring people into Winnemucca. The next one would be the Golconda Post Office, so we could bring Golconda residents into Winnemucca."
Depending on demand, Tindall said they may book specific days for those routes.
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