San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION
COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN
• Information needs are continuing at all levels of system – consumers, individual case
managers, supervisors.
• Agency staff needs enough information, and current information, to be able to refer
consumers to the right resources.
• Communication is complicated as human services personnel don’t know with whom to
communicate about transportation and are not aware of new services or planned
services that will help their consumers.
• Much interest in one-number solutions through 511/ 211 or bringing the Regional
Rideshare resources forward. Much need for one-number approach.
Potential Projects
Operations or service alternative projects: special purpose shuttles such as to get people
between Creekside Career Center One-Stop services and the Prado Day Center/SLO
shelter; special shuttles targeted to outlying communities; increased or enhanced bus pass/
buy-down programs, possibly some involving Ride-On; information projects targeted to case
workers; mechanisms to participate with greater effectiveness in the annual unmet needs
process; Regional Rideshare projects to find and coordinate volunteer drivers; coordinate
information including bringing 511 and 211 systems together. (early development stage with
JARC grant)
Capital projects: accessible vehicles, possibly low-floor sedans
Children of Low Income Families (Headstart programs and School Districts)
• School District (San Luis Obispo Coastal Unified School District) concerned about lowincome
children and trip needs, other than to school; school buses a possible resource.
• Recent census has identified 667 homeless children in the County, with 150 at-risk
children in the “no child left behind” program; expected that these children have special
transportation needs.
• In SLO, the public bus won’t come in front of the homeless shelter overnight – stops 1 ½
blocks away; difficult for very young children who may be arriving unaccompanied,
coming from school.
• No bus service to Paso Robles park just outside of town (Barney Schwartz Park),
towards Shandon; excellent park for families with young children but no way to get them
there.
• Public dial-a-ride doesn’t work as car seats are not available for those under 40 pounds;
many children are riding unaccompanied and need on-vehicle escort.
• For Headstart children, most are not close enough to public bus to take it and when they
are, requires four trips for parents – taking child to center and back, returning at the end
of the session and home.
• Headstart has difficulty fielding drivers: hard to find drivers who will pass the screenings;
once found, hard to retain as the wages are lower than for public school bus operators.
• Headstart providing almost 200,000 trips annually in San Luis Obispo region to children;
10 months a year, traveling 5 days a week, twice daily: 164,500 trips to approximately
387 children ages 3 to 5 years old; 32,300 trips to approximately 76 children ages 0 to 3
years old in Early Headstart.
• Starting a migrant workers’ Headstart in Shandon and Nipomo.
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OCTOBER 2007