The 5-year-old Senior Shuttle is in jeopardy of permanently stalling, its wheels stopped forever.

Seniors could lose the door-to-door shuttle service because of proposed state budget cuts that, if approved by the Legislature, will kill the much-needed shuttle.

The shuttle provided 5,536 rides last year across the county. Rides on the shuttle are available to seniors in South and North County, in San Luis Obispo and on the North Coast.

“These are all folks who can’t use public transportation for one reason or another,” Mark Shaffer, Ride-On Transportation executive director, said about the clients the shuttle serves.

“A lot of them are 80 or 90 years old, and they can’t drive anymore,” Shaffer added. “We hear from them all the time that they don’t know what they would do if Ride-On

wasn’t providing the Senior Shuttle.”

The Senior Shuttle is solely funded with money from the State Transit Assistance account, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to cut by 75 percent to help reduce the budget shortfall.

Advertisement

He signed the state’s budget Sept. 23 and called an emergency session of the Legislature in early November to hammer out a plan to remedy California’s $11.2 billion deficit. A plan has to yet to be approved by the Legislature.

The county receives about $1.2 million in State Transit Assistance funding annually, and it costs $81,000 to operate the Senior Shuttle.

If the governor’s proposal to cut the State Transit Assistance account passes the Legislature, Shaffer said, the impacts would definitely be felt by area senior citizens.

“We’d have no funding (for the Senior Shuttle) for the next six months,” he said, adding the service would die with a loss of Transit Assistance money.

Shaffer is asking seniors and others in the community to call or write their state legislators and request that the transportation funds not be cut.

“Let them know that it’s not appropriate,” Shaffer said. “Seventy-five percent is extreme.”

Ride-On Transportation has also started a “Go Seniors” fundraising campaign to keep the Senior Shuttle service rolling. Checks made payable to “Ride-On Go Seniors” can be mailed to: Ride-On, 3620 Sacramento Drive, Suite 201, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401.

For more information about the Senior Shuttle service or to schedule a ride, call Ride-On at 541-8747.

December 19, 2008