PORT ANGELES — A visually impaired woman urged Clallam Transit System commissioners Monday to raise paratransit fares rather than reduce the service she called “a lifeline” for disabled people.
“What you have is a wonderful system,” said Creta Hendricks of Port Angeles, who has tunnel vision and cannot drive a car.
“Don’t ruin a good thing.”
Her mother, Allie Hendricks, also needed paratransit after she had treatments for glaucoma in Bremerton.
“I, too, see paratransit as a lifeline for everyone,” she said.
Clallam Transit, faced with rising operating costs and decreasing paratransit fares due to a shift away from reimbursement by Medicaid, is considering three changes to the current service:
* Establish two zones, the first limited to the three-quarters of a mile on both sides of regular bus routes required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
* Charge a premium fare for trips outside the first zone. Regular fares are 75 cents intracity, and $1 intercity, for one-way trips.
The premium fare probably would be $1.50, said transit General Manager Terry Weed.
* Limit long-distance trips to a fixed schedule instead of the taxi-like service paratransit now provides.
