Paratransit services here are facing challenges, a Unified Government committee learned Monday night.
Some senior citizens appeared at the UG’s Administration and Human Services Committee meeting Monday to express their feelings about recent cancellations of paratransit trips.
“Sometimes it seems like we are being pushed to the back,” one resident, Jacqueline, told the committee. “I don’t think it’s fair.”
Justus Welker, the UG’s director of public transportation, said it was an “oversubscribed service,” and that several vehicles recently have had maintenance problems, prompting the cancellation of trips for some senior citizens, including some who were using the paratransit service to go to work at schools through the Foster Grandparents program.
Welker said several vehicles have now been ordered, but it takes about three to six months to receive the specialized ordered vehicles.
Two paratransit services, ADA and Senior, are operating here, he said. ADA service, for those who have a disability, is federally mandated, while the Senior service is not federally mandated, according to Welker. The Senior service is provided to senior citizens who go to medical appointments, nutrition sites and work trips.
Welker said there was a net gain of 70 percent in paratransit customers in 2017. He also said other agencies have cut transportation for the Foster Grandparents program, the public housing program and several senior community centers, and these riders were added to the UG’s Senior service.
Besides vehicle problems in the paratransit service, there also was a lack of staff to meet the demand, according to Welker.
Welker said most of the paratransit service riders now are going to dialysis centers and medical appointments.
Since Dec. 15, Welker said that the UG has placed a moratorium on new senior paratransit clients, and trips are no longer being scheduled for shopping. Only medical appointments, nutrition sites and work trips are allowed. The UG also has been borrowing vehicles from the KCATA as necessary.
Welker discussed further restricting the Seniors paratransit service as one option that might be available, as well as hiring more staff, requesting replacement vehicles and pursuing grants for the replacement of vehicles. He was presenting this to the committee in order to have the commission’s guidance on what to do about it.
Another Foster Grandparent, Joyce, told the UG committee that their work was important to the schools, and that they were needed in the classrooms. However, she received a call 10 minutes before her scheduled pickup time this morning telling her that her trip was canceled, she said. She asked for an extra day’s notice if they can’t make the trip.
Senior citizens pay $2 each way for the paratransit service, and those who work with the Foster Grandparents program don’t receive very much money to begin with, residents pointed out.
Another senior citizen, Tom, told the group that work should be a priority in the paratransit services. Many senior citizens rely upon work to get enough funds to buy medication and for their livelihood, he said.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook said that with some of the restrictions, senior citizens who need a ride to get groceries are out of luck. It’s important to people to be able to sustain themselves to have a healthy life, she noted.
“This is not OK,” Commissioner Melissa Bynum said. “For an older adult in this community to express that they believe that they’re being pushed away or not being treated with respect or as a priority is both heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.”
Bynum said these situations are not going to go away, as the Baby Boomers continue swelling the retirement population for the next 10 years, and they are not at the peak of this population yet.
“My request is that we as a commission look long and hard at providing the financial resources needed by this department,” Bynum said.
She said the situation is critical, and she wanted the UG to act as soon as it could on addressing service problems. She also asked for more notice for the residents if the paratransit service couldn’t be there.
Welker said after the weekend, they had limited vehicle capacity today and had to call some residents this morning about their trips being canceled. If they know about a vehicle being out of service for a period of time, they can make that call earlier, he said. Some service vehicles came back later today, but some vehicles experience constant maintenance issues, he said.
Welker said he hopes to meet with RideKC Freedom-On-Demand out of Kansas City, Mo., which is serving the Missouri side and Johnson County in the metropolitan area, and he hopes to bring back a proposed solution soon.