MORGAN HILL
– For South Valley residents who rely on VTA’s special
house-to-destination transportation program, proposed changes to
the service will hit them hard – in the pocketbook and in their
daily lives.
MORGAN HILL – For South Valley residents who rely on VTA’s special house-to-destination transportation program, proposed changes to the service will hit them hard – in the pocketbook and in their daily lives.
“It’s my lifeline,” Bonnie Boerner of Morgan Hill, who must use a cane, said about the paratransit service. “I need to go to Gavilan three days a week for physical therapy and that’s the only way I get there. It’s worth every penny I pay.”
With senior/disabled rates scheduled to go up from $11 to $20 for a monthly pass and $121 to $220 for a year’s pass, Boerner and others like her could be paying many pennies more – if they are still eligible for the service.
VTA, facing a $100 million deficit, is considering cutting paratransit service to those more than three-fourths of a mile from a bus stop.
“As we continue to review all of our services, paratransit being one of them, we are looking to improve operational efficiencies,” said George Tacke, manager of accessible services for the VTA. “We are looking at, in terms of our paratransit, just providing what is really required by ADA (the American Disability Act). That’s not to say we’re not willing to exceed it – we have been.”
Tacke hopes that people who have concerns will attend the public meetings this week to bring their situation to light.
The closest meeting is at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gilroy City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
VTA’s Board of Directors will not take action on the proposed rates or service cuts until June 5, and the new rates, if approved, would go into effect on Aug. 1.
“This service is necessary to so many people,” said Barbara Stockdale of Gilroy, who runs a home for developmentally disabled adults. “My people use (the program) to get to and from their jobs, to their activities, to their medical appointments. Because I am the owner/operator of the home, I have to be in the home if anyone’s present. So I can’t transport them. And we are just one mile beyond the nearest bus stop.”
Stockdale said the developmentally disabled adults at her home would be forced to walk to the nearest bus stop if VTA goes ahead with planned service cuts.
“The nearest bus stop is at Saint Louise (Hospital),” she said. “Down unpaved roads, with ambulances, police cars, sick people hurrying down them. I just can’t let them (the adults she is responsible for) do that. They have to have Outreach. I have no idea what to do if they take it away. I’m frantic about it.”
Charles Marino, who said he lives near Uvas Dam, has been using VTA’s Outreach – the formal name for the special transportation program – approximately a year and a half.
“I live about 12 miles out from Morgan Hill, and if they can’t come and pick me up, I don’t know what I’ll do,” he said.
The Live Oak Adult Day Services center in Gilroy provides care for many seniors, most of whom use Outreach to get to and from the center, according to Cheryl Huguenor, program director for the center.
“Our center provides services for seniors who cannot live alone, who are starting to lose their independence,” she said. “We provide a break for the family or caregiver, while providing the senior with safety, meals and activities, both recreational and social. The Yellow Cab drivers who work for Outreach know our clients, care about our clients, know of our hours of operation; they’re very dependable.”
But Outreach, according to various clients, has been giving more and more of its South County pick-ups to the “white car” drivers, or drivers for another company, ATC, which has a contract with Outreach.
ATC charges almost double per mile what Yellow Cab charges Outreach to provide transport.
“I think it’s important that the public know that the white cars don’t charge us for miles they drive unless there is a client in the vehicle,” Tacke said. “The way we structured our contract, it doesn’t matter how far they have to drive to pick up a customer, they don’t charge us for that.
“Of course, it is up to us to route the vehicles efficiently. But the number of miles we pay them for is exactly equal to the number of miles we pay Yellow Cab for.”
Yellow Cab owner Larry Silva said he sent VTA and Outreach a proposal in December that he claimed would save the organization approximately $9.4 million annually.
“I have to be very careful about explaining why one vendor gets the business over another,” Tacke said. “I’ve known Larry for many years, had many contracts with his company. We did send him invitations to bid and he did not. After the bids were in, he sent in this proposal. It just wouldn’t be a fair business practice … We are a large government agency with very strict standards for procurement.”
Tacke said he hopes that when VTA and Outreach go out for bids again, Silva will bid for a larger piece of the business.
“We have made a concerted effort to keep local taxis,” he said. “They have flexibility, they have a long history of serving south county residents. They have made it clear that they want to continue to do so.”
