pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-02-14.pdf, 3
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2018-02-14 | 3 | ITEM 2-A COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MINUTES OF Wednesday, February 14, 2018 6:30 p.m. home before it melts. You might have other things to do in your day than just ride the bus. So it's another good reason for that. But that's because of the wait time that we thought that would be important. And there was a survey done. And the name that got the highest number of votes was Alameda Loop Shuttle. So we've re-branded as the Alameda Loop Shuttle. Victoria Williams: We've made it very visible. I don't know if you could miss it. It says free on every side because we want that to be known, thanks Commissioner, and it's open to all. So while our funding offers priorities for seniors and people who have disabilities, because an empty bus is really not a good way to spend money, the funder has said, open it to everyone. When we get full, then we'll have to have those who are not seniors or people who have disabilities find another way to ride. But right now, we're not. So, it's open to all and it says that on, I think, on every side of the bus. It says it on our schedules. Because we want everyone to know anyone can ride the bus. You don't have to make a reservation. You just get on and ride. Victoria Williams: This is a picture of the monthly shuttle boarding starting back when the shuttle started in 2010. And we started with about 350 average boardings per month. And then service got better, and then it got down, and now it's back up again. And as it's noted there in 2015, there was an average of 424 boardings a month; 2016, 449 boardings a month; 2017, 451. And if I'm not mistaken, January, there were 600 boardings. Yeah. So we're going in the right direction. It takes more people to fill two buses. Victoria Williams: So in the past, when we had one hour frequency, just one bus, our cost per trip was $16 which is a really good cost. Now with two buses, we have more seats to fill, so the price is higher. It's $27. That was in 2017. We're going to make that better in '18. And our funder's really okay with this because they give us two years to get to where they'd like us to be. They would like for our rides to cost $20 a ride or less. But they give us two years to meet that goal because it takes a while to ramp up business, in any kind of business. And with shuttles people have to see it coming a lot of times before they really know they can trust it and they want to ride on it. So the funder's fine with that. And we're working hard to try to improve the cost per ride and the ridership. Victoria Williams: We also have a taxi service. This is the taxi service status. In the past, there was a 50% discount to ride the taxis. Now it's increased to 70%. And to qualify to be a rider, you need to live in Alameda, and be 70 or over, or be enrolled with East Bay Paratransit. So it doesn't require a disability. And a lot of people use it to go for cataract surgery or to the airport, things like that where they don't want to drive, those who still drive, who aren't allowed to drive maybe at that point. So a person can buy a voucher that's worth $5 for $1.50. So it's a huge discount and you can go anywhere in Alameda county. It is a regular taxi with a meter. We do have a couple of ramp taxis, so those are accessible. The service is provided by a local Alameda taxi service, and he's very happy to be providing service here. Victoria Williams: You can see this from the blue line on the graph. The blue line is the premium taxi program. Now that's the one that you can go anywhere in Alameda County for any purpose at all. And in 2009, we had 68 trips per month was the average. And you can see, that's the blue line. We've gone down a little and now we're headed steadily up. Our average trips per month are about 140. It was more than that in January, and I cannot remember the number, but it was more than that. 02/14/18 Page 3 of 24 | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2018-02-14.pdf |