Cold shoulder for folks needing rides

Ask again next month, some paratransit users are told.

By DAVID DECAMP, Times staff writer
Published August 17, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Mike Pease | Times] Kathleen Ambrosio of New Port Richey is one of the people affected by the cut Pasco County has made in bus service for poor, elderly people, blaming a budget shortfall. That means people like Ambrosio, 68, will have trouble getting to the doctor for a service she counts on.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Joseph Kuhn gave himself to the U.S. Army and the Vietnam War, and now has a ravaged immune system. But Pasco County cannot give him a ride to the doctor.

Not this month, at least.

The county has quietly slashed its paratransit ride program for disabled and poor residents, cutting daily trips by more than a third. Residents calling to book the door-to-door trips to the doctor or the grocery store are getting a disappointing response this week.

There are no rides available until next month.

"They wouldn't take me," said Kuhn, 59, after calling the county Thursday. "That's wrong."

Mike Carroll, Pasco transportation manager, said the growing demand for service and rising fuel prices are using money faster than officials planned. To stay within the budget, transit officials cut the door-to-door trips from about 300 to 325 a day to about 180 to 200 a day.

"We don't call it a cutback," Carroll said Thursday. "We just cannot accommodate all of the people."

Rides to Gulf View Square or stores like Wal-Mart have been curtailed or eliminated, depending on the purpose of the trip. Doctors' appointments are supposed to be higher priority than shopping, except for groceries. The cut does not affect people on Medicaid who participate in the program. Medicaid still pays for their trips.

It affects people with disabilities and people who live farther than three-quarters of a mile from a standard bus route. About 70 percent of those trips are in west Pasco; the remaining 30 percent are in the central and eastern parts of the county. Many participants are seniors, paying $2 or less for rides.

Kathleen Ambrosio, 68, of New Port Richey said seniors like her have no other way to get to doctors' appointments.

"I've been crying since Tuesday," Ambrosio said. "It's a disgrace."

Kuhn, who lives in the Mill Run neighborhood near New Port Richey, said he had 211 doctor visits last year for a variety of illnesses and most recently, hand surgery.

Considered 100 percent disabled, he blames his problems on Agent Orange exposure, linked to the use of the herbicide in Vietnam. He served in 1967-68, seeing action during the Tet Offensive by the Viet Cong.

Through the Pasco program, Kuhn usually gets a ride via cab hired through the county. He pays the customary $2 each way.

On Thursday, he was told to call back next week to see if September dates were available. Now, he's looking at a $54 round-trip cab ride for appointments later this month, or his wife will have to take a day off work to drive him to the doctor.

"I can't afford that," Kuhn said.

The limits on trips will continue when the agency's new budget year starts Oct. 1, Carroll said. At that point the transportation agency will assess whether it can add more trips, based on how much money is used.

The reduced service hits as county officials are deciding how to meet state demands for property tax cuts. While federal money and fares pay for most of the paratransit program, the overall budget shortfall of $15.8-million has crimped access to additional money.

Both Ambrosia and Kuhn said the people at the transit agency blamed budget shortages for reduced rides.

Carroll and Assistant County Administrator Dan Johnson would not say Thursday how much money the agency would need to restore service to previous levels. Carroll said the accountant who has those numbers was off work.

"People have other things to do. ... They're answering calls like, 'Why can't I get my bus rides?' " Johnson said.

But county commissioners Ann Hildebrand and Michael Cox said they would look into how service could be restored.

"In my mind all of the options have not been explored," Hildebrand said, such as raising fares or cutting other transit services instead.

But the board is sitting on $2-million in property taxes, tentatively to be used as business incentives next year.

"If it gets to that being the choice, the incentive money's going to go," Cox said.

Carroll said other transit services have not been reduced, although a new route near Moon Lake was not added as planned. The agency's proposed budget includes a $2-million increase to buy five new buses for mass transit.

In recent years, the agency has focused on encouraging use of its mass transit bus system, Carroll said. The paratransit program has nine minibuses, but seven more vans have often gone unused this year because of driver turnover, Carroll said.

David DeCamp can be reached ddecamp@sptimes.com or 727 869-6232.

Pasco County sets priorities for determining who gets to ride in its door-to-door service for disabled and poor residents. From top to bottom:

1. Medical

2. Employment (in county)

3. Social services

4. Training/education

5. Shopping

6. Recreation

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 21:57:05]