Senior Transit Program Retooled

Budget Cuts Force New Approach

The transportation program for Prince William County senior citizens is being reinvented after falling victim to the county's budget cuts this year.

On July 1, the Prince William Area Agency on Aging kicked off a three-month transportation pilot program meant to help keep part of the region's aging population mobile while officials come up with a more permanent solution.

Agency Director Courtney Tierney said the county cut its contribution to the transportation program from $250,000 to $100,000, forcing her organization to eliminate four driver positions and the "small fleet" of vans it had to take people to senior centers and adult day care.

"We had very difficult choices to make," said Prince William County Supervisor Frank J. Principi (D-Woodbridge), who has been working with the agency on the issue. "But I think we are being very aggressive now to make sure seniors have a way to get where they need to go."

The pilot program provides participating seniors with either daily Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission bus passes or $1 to $5 vouchers to be used with Manassas Cab or Yellow Cab. But it is up to participants to arrange cab services or get to a bus stop.

Before, Tierney said, agency buses took about 90 residents only to and from the senior centers in Woodbridge and Manassas and the agency's adult day care center. The pilot program, however, gives its roughly dozen participants free rein as to where they want to go.

"We recognize a lot of people need to get places like the doctor's or the grocery store," she said. "This really empowers them to go where they need to go."

Tierney said she selected clients for the pilot program from a pool of people who had recently used the agency's transportation service. To participate, clients had to be age 55 or older and unable to drive and have an income of less than $30,000 if single or less than $40,000 for couples. Assets were not evaluated, she said.

Tierney said that because the pilot program is only a "short-term fix," transportation officials, representatives from the senior community and others are hashing out a long-term transportation plan with the help of a $200,000 grant from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and $50,000 in local money and in-kind contributions.

Over two years, Tierney said, the group will evaluate the current transportation inventory and find ways to fill in the gaps, particularly when it comes to serving seniors, people with disabilities and low-income households.

Tierney said finding transportation for seniors is particularly important as the county's baby boomers age. "We might not have a high number of older people today, but we are poised to really get hit soon," she said. "And as people live longer and want to live at home longer, transportation is going to become a bigger issue."

Tierney said national statistics show that, on average, men are unable to drive the last seven years and women the last 10 years of their lives.

PRTC Executive Director Al Harf said the long-term transportation plan will probably have three elements. One will be to expand traditional transit services, and another will be to continue the voucher program. The third leg, he said, will probably be to tap into volunteer transportation services, including those in the faith community.

Harf said the group is also looking to address county-to-county service. There are internal buses and "a fairly rich" commuter setup, but nothing to get people just across jurisdiction lines, he said.

"It's hard for people to make trips from the greater Prince William area to neighboring counties," Harf said. "We recognize that the geography of services is more limited, and we have holes" in the transportation plan.

Principi said many seniors pleaded with supervisors during the budget process, asking them to avoid cutting the transportation funds. But with a roughly $190 million budget shortfall to address, multiple county services had to go, he said.

Principi said he supports the ideas that have been thrown on the table and plans to address them at a Woodbridge town hall meeting sometime early next month.

"The minor roar [from seniors] has increased to one that is fairly loud," he said. "It's obvious more seniors are aging in place and want to stay in the county. . . . My feeling is we can continue to provide senior transportation if we just do it a little bit smarter."