Shaker Heights Introduces $5 Fee for Some Senior Transportation

Editor's note: Shaker Heights City Council's first meeting of 2013 is on Jan. 14. Until then, we'll revisit some of the legislation passed at the most recent gathering in December.

Shaker Heights City Council recently passed legislation that results in a new contract for the transportation of the seniors in the community and a new fee for any personal rides they might take.

Shaker has entered a contract with Senior Transportation Connection for $151,200 for the entire year. The contract is virtually the same as the one with the STC that expired at the end of 2012.

One aspect of senior transportation that will not the same as 2012 is the introduction of a $5 fee for personal rides, which include visits to friends, churches, salon trips, education and more. A grant from the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging covers some of the costly rides that Shaker provides through its STC contract, but that funding will decrease by 44.2 percent this year. In 2012, the city received $36,966 from the grant, compared to the expected $20,629 this year.

"By implementing the $5 fee for only personal destinations, we will be able to recoup almost all of the grant funding that will be lost in 2013 and the net cost to the city will stay on budget for 2013," reads a memo from Community Life director Pam Quinn, who recently retired.

"Our goal is to prove transportation services for our senior residents that are (financially or physically) unable to do so on their own."

Annette Szalay, business services manager for the city, said Shaker provided about 8,000 senior rides this year, about 2,000 more than in 2009. The city could only ask for "suggested donations" because it received WRAAA funding and its ridership levels were below the threshold that would allow a community to charge a fee. Now, rides have passed that mark and the city needs to make up money for the rides that can cost as much as $20 per trip under the contract.

The fee will take effect on Feb. 1.

About 52 percent of riders used STC for trips to medical providers for therapy and dialysis appointments last year; 10.6 percent were for special events and classes at the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Building; and 8.5 percent were for some form of shopping. The remaining 28.8 percent were defined as personal trips.

All council members voted for the fee except Rob Zimmerman and Julianna Johnston Senturia.

"We're very concerned about the impact on riders," councilman Brian Gleisser, who voted in favor of the fee, said before the vote. "This fee would impact, very directly, a population that for the most part has a fixed income."