San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

Ride-On Interview at Ride-On offices
January 11, 2007
Mark Shaffer, Executive Director
Heather Menninger-Mayeda, A-M-M-A
Issues Around Current Services
SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION
COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN
• Ride-On services can be cost prohibitive for some users.
• Mesa Shuttle – west of Nipomo; no public transit. Very rural areas. Few ride requests;
services provided on Ride-On are billed based upon costs. Can be very expensive to
the funding agency.
• Nipomo Dial-a-Ride connections with RTA are taken into account (impact on
scheduling).
• For Five Cities Senior Shuttle – serving three days per week; reimbursed based upon
use (marginal costs); must be able to make farebox recovery ratio.
• Templeton/ Paso Robles – starting services with plan to put resources into marketing.
• North Coast Senior Shuttle – demand very limited, no marketing activities; one day a
week historically; competition with two established volunteer senior vans in northernmost
areas (Cayucos and Cambria)
• Mesa to Arroyo Grande – need to schedule in a run, particularly for seniors.
• Seniors who are not ADA and can’t use Runabout need some service; further Runabout
can only serve the ¾ mile corridor around RTA services. Seniors can’t necessarily
afford Ride-On’s full fare structure.
• Exploring how dial-a-ride can be used as a feeder to fixed route; importance of
coordinating schedules.
• Shandon to Paso Robles is now $2 each way; Shandon to SLO service not provided
except for seniors, recently lowered to $2.00 each way; too expensive for most low
income users.
• Ride-On trips are not subsidized to airport ($26 one way from parts of SLO City to
regional airport).
Information issues and potential improvements
• Lisa Quinn (RTA) – Regional Rideshare program building a centralized resource that will
provide information about vanpool, bus options – offer choices to consumers.
• Ride-On Interested in carpooling for seniors and ways of developing that; also mileagebased
reimbursement mechanisms. (new project in Paso Robles)
CTSA Role/ Project Possibilities
• Supporting agencies [social service agencies] to a modest extent. May be ways to
expand this role. Important around training.
• Need for agricultural workers’ transport – potential for grants but difficulty of accessing
populations to identify needs.
• Dial-a-Ride can be an effective feeder to intercity fixed route services–already
implemented in Nipomo area with coordination of daytime schedules. Existing
Dial-a-Ride trips include about 25% that feed the fixed route service.
• Job training grants a possibility; job training for drivers.
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OCTOBER 2007