Ledger-Dispatch

By Raheem Hosseini (editor@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

A fleet of buses occupy the Martell = parking lot=20 of the Amador Regional Transit System. Consultants are pushing = transit=20 officials to address a growing list of unmet needs, a list = officials say=20 will be impacted by revenue streams.

Photo by: Raheem=20 Hosseini
Transportation officials and = consultants=20 picked over a growing wish list of unmet transit needs the county will = struggle=20 to meet in the coming year during a public hearing at last week's = transportation=20 commission meeting.

A final list likely won't be ready until = June, when=20 the Amador Regional Transit System's final budget is due. Transportation = officials are hoping to use the time to prioritize a list that may have = to be=20 cut from the bottom as revenue pressures increase.

"There's not = going to=20 be enough money to meet all the needs," said commission Chair Louis = Boitano, a=20 county supervisor. "The ones at the bottom of the list are just going to = have to=20 drop off, like it or not."

That didn't sit well with members of = the=20 Social Services Transportation Advisory Council, who asked commissioners = to=20 consider lowering thresholds for new and expanded services, such as a = taxi=20 voucher program and a Saturday bus service to Kirkwood Mountain Resort, = which=20 made its first trip last Saturday, despite being identified as an unmet = transit=20 need a year ago.

"It's a little frustrating, because some of the=20 recommendations we made this time, we made last time," said Nina = Machado, a=20 SSTAC member and executive director of First 5 Amador.

Of the = five=20 recommendations made last year, three have been implemented somewhat, = including=20 the Kirkwood service. A $10,000 public relations campaign for new = signage and to=20 promote new routes, among other goals, has been met, said Amador County=20 Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field, though some = of the=20 money has yet to be spent.

An expanded service route between = Plymouth and=20 Ione is still operating as a demonstration program and has yet to meet = ARTS'=20 fare box return ratio target of 10 percent, according to an ACTC staff=20 report.

Recommendations to analyze the results of a transit = survey done=20 in October 2006 and institute a taxi voucher program have not yet been=20 implemented.

Regarding the latter reserve-a-ride program, Field = said ARTS=20 is close to completing a draft contract with Blue Mountain Transit, = which would=20 provide after-hours service when ARTS doesn't run.

"This is not = really=20 new. We've been trying to do it for two or three years," Field = said.

A=20 new SSTAC recommendation for a transportation reimbursement program, = patterned=20 after a service offered in Trinity County and two other rural = communities, would=20 subsidize transit service in areas that can't be met by ARTS and other = social=20 service transportation providers.

Commissioners delayed a = decision on any=20 of the recommendations until a full analysis could be performed. LSC=20 Transportation Consultants, Inc. is about to start work on a transit = development=20 plan to be completed by June, said ARTS General Manager Patrick Ireland = Tuesday.=20 June is also when the final ARTS budget is due, though a preliminary one = must be=20 completed next month.

"If we can make it back (with the unmet = transit=20 needs recommendations) before the June agenda, we sure will," Field=20 said.

Normally, the county entertains one or two recommendations = a year,=20 Ireland said. This year it's five.

Given the number of requests = for=20 additional services and the costs associated, Field said commissioners = may need=20 to consider additional criteria for evaluating transit needs. One = possible=20 suggestion is giving priority to unmet needs that would serve the = transportation=20 disadvantaged, such as the elderly, handicapped and economically = disadvantaged,=20 for quality-of-life or medical trips. The Sacramento Area Council of=20 Governments, which acts in a similar capacity as ACTC, has included such = language in its unmet needs criteria.

"The general attitude about = public=20 transit is you really can't dictate what trips are appropriate in a = particular=20 bus," Ireland said Tuesday. "We don't have the right to walk past one = person's=20 needs in order to meet another person's needs."

But when the = system=20 reaches critical mass, the challenge becomes deciding which services to = cut: "Do=20 we meet recreational needs or health service needs?" Ireland = asked.

Last=20 week, SSTAC members and ACTC consultants advocated doing both. ACTC = rideshare=20 consultant Renee Chapman told commissioners she was there to represent = Shake=20 Ridge Road residents who supported expanded transit service to their=20 neighborhood.

"A lot of people that live up there feel a little=20 isolated," she said.

When Chapman said she expected them to = attend the=20 meeting, someone in the audience joked that it was because they couldn't = catch a=20 bus.

Lynn Shield, a SSTAC member and executive director of = Operation=20 Care, told commissioners an Upcountry domestic violence shelter would = benefit=20 from expanded evening and early morning service to Jackson, especially = on=20 weekends. Clients of the shelter rely on public transit to go job = hunting or=20 access social services, she said.

Tracey Towner-Yep, a SSTAC = member and=20 Amador County Recreation Agency executive director, pushed for a late = afternoon=20 bus from Ione Junior High to Camanche, but criticized a 10-ticket = threshold for=20 such a route. "You're setting up a criteria by which it's impossible to = meet=20 that unmet need," she said.

"Tracey illuminates the challenge," = Field=20 told commissioners. A subsidized transit service like the one the county = runs is=20 "still going to come up short. You need a criteria and need to draw a = line=20 somewhere, because we don't have all the money in the world."

It = already=20 looks like the county and its cities won't be getting road improvement = claims=20 approved for local transportation funds. And considering every hour of=20 additional service a day adds $20,000 to ARTS' annual expenses, = commissioners=20 and attendees tried to think outside the box. Commissioner Greg Baldwin=20 suggested selling commercial advertising on ARTS buses, while Upcountry = resident=20 Debbie Dunn summarized a letter from Volcano resident Ruth Gottstein = that=20 advocated combining services where possible, like using bus trips to = deliver=20 supplies to libraries and the food bank. Chapman suggested starting with = a low=20 threshold and gradually ramping up for new and expanded = services.

But by=20 the end of the hearing, one message was clear:

"There's only so = much=20 government can do," Baldwin said.

"I don't think that's the = answer she=20 wanted," replied Commissioner Jerry Sherman, an Ione = councilman.

Agreed=20 Machado as she headed back to her seat, "That wasn't what I was looking=20 for."

Raheem = Hosseini