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Gilbert funds Dial-a-Ride for all disabled
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All Gilbert residents certified through the Americans With Disabilities act as having special needs will continue to be eligible for subsidized Dial-a-Ride service through at least next June.
But several Town Council members voiced concern about the program's soaring costs and whether Gilbert can provide it for anyone next fiscal year.
350 Gilbert residents lose Dial-a-Ride service
"This service is going to change dramatically in the future," Vice Mayor Linda Abbott said during a vote Tuesday to extend the service. "Whether we can even afford to do this next year is a question mark."
The council voted 7-0 to transfer $493,000 from the general fund's contingency to cover the cost of providing Dial-a-Ride services for all ADA-covered residents, though federal law only requires service for disabled residents who live within three-quartersof a mile of an established bus route.
If the council hadn't acted, the wider service would have ended Thursday,stranding people like Susan Williams, a blind Gilbert resident who lives nearly a mile away from a bus line.
She told the councilshe uses the service to get to mobility classes at the Foundation for Blind Children, near 12th Street and Northern Avenue in Phoenix. She hopes to then take classes toward a degree in special education at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.
Williams said there are drawbacks to new, less expensive programs several council members were interested in, including a taxi coupon program that costs the town about $12 a ride and provides users a 75 percent discount. "I do have the vouchers, but I'm only allowed $25 worth, or $100. If I used $100 worth, it would get me to school for one day," she said.
Several council members were unhappy with the $48.47 cost per Dial-a-Ride trip, for which ADA-certified members currently pay $2.50. Gilbert's ridership grew 38 percent during the 2009 fiscal year, causing its part of the program to go over budget by $73,000. The council vote included transferring money to cover those costs, plus another $420,000 to cover the expanded service level. It would have cost the town $300,000 to limit service to within the federally required area.
Gilbert discontinued Dial-a-Ride subsidies for non-ADA certified residents for this fiscal year, which began July 1.
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