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Phoenix to cut 'demand trips' from its Reserve-a-Ride service
by Lynh Bui 
Jun. 11, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Seniors and the disabled who have relied on the Phoenix's Reserve-a-Ride program for trips to the grocery store, medical appointments or even the beauty parlor will have to find new transportation.

Starting July 12, the city will no longer offer "demand trips" on the transit service in an effort to save about $860,000 annually. The core Reserve-a-Ride service that picks seniors up from their homes to senior centers across the city will remain intact.

Seniors and the disabled who call the city two days in advance have been able to request "demand trips" on one of Reserve-a-Ride's 18-passenger minibuses. Drivers pick up riders from their homes to destinations of their choice while vehicles are en route to senior centers.

The main focus of Reserve-a-Ride has been to get the elderly to one of the city's 15 senior centers. Demand trips make up about 76,000, or 23 percent, of Reserve-a-Ride's estimated 330,000 trips each year and are the most expensive part of the program, according to Gloria Hurtado, director of Phoenix's human-services department.

The Phoenix City Council this week approved eliminating demand trips, following recommendations from the city's Innovation and Efficiency Task Force. The task force is a group of city department heads and residents charged with finding ways to save Phoenix money as the city manages through the rough economy.

The city has temporarily increased the number of staff taking calls for Reserve-a-Ride demand trips to inform riders of the change and alternatives, Hurtado said.

"We've spoiled a lot of people with this program," Hurtado said. "It's always difficult to take something away, but we want the transition to be as seamless as possible."

The city is encouraging users look to alternative transit, such as the public bus system or Dial-a-Ride. Seniors can use the Senior Cab program, which allows riders to buy $10 worth of taxi vouchers for $3. The maximum each month is $40 worth of taxi vouchers for $12.

The city asks for a donation of $1.25 per Reserve-a-Ride trip, but the city only recovers about 40 cents of that cost, Hurtado said. It costs the city about $45 a person, per day to run Reserve-a-Ride.

Canceling demand trips could eliminate at least five jobs and result in additional efficiencies as the program itself moves from human services to the city's public-transit department, Hurtado said.

Marvin Rochelle, a senior and a member of the Phoenix Citizen's Transit Commission, said that eliminating demand rides will be more cost-effective for Phoenix.

"These trips taking people to the beauty parlor is costing the city a lot of money when Reserve-a-Ride was meant to take people to get their free lunches and camaraderie at the senior center," Rochelle said. "We all have to give something up in these economic times."

Diane Shardt, 70, has used Reserve-a-Ride three times a week for demand trips to visit her husband in a nursing home.

Even with the discount vouchers through Senior Cab, "the taxi services are a lot more than a lot of us can afford," Shardt said. "And I have taken Dial-a-Ride, but sometimes I have to wait three or four hours for someone to pick me up."

Shardt cannot drive because she has seizures and worries about losing the service.

"I don't wish this on my worst enemy: when you can't drive but you want to be independent," Shardt said.

Tempe considers modern streetcars on Mill Ave., transit to Chandler
Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:13 pm | Updated: 4:43 pm, Tue Jun 15, 2010.
Garin Groff
Tribune

Tempe is studying two downtown routes for a modern streetcar that will link the city's center with areas to the south - perhaps eventually as far away as Chandler.

Planners will spend the summer evaluating options, including whether the downtown Tempe path should run on Mill or Ash avenues.

The initial idea was to run the streetcar on Mill, but the city is now looking at whether Ash would be a better alignment in the downtown. Placing the tracks on Ash would avoid disruption on Mill and could bolster development on the much less active Ash.

The city hasn't formally weighed the pros and cons yet, but is seeking public input to see if it's worth a full evaluation of the Ash route, said Dawn Coomer, a senior transportation planer for Tempe.

"Right now we don't know if it's a good idea or not," she said. "We're asking if it's a good idea to explore."

The first opportunity comes Wednesday, at an event where planners will share streetcar options with the public.

Tempe and Valley Metro Rail have been studying the streetcar since 2007. The streetcar would initially start at the light rail line in downtown and end at Southern Avenue. A future expansion would have it turn east on Southern, ending at the community center and library at Rural Road.

From that point, bus rapid transit or some kind of rail system could eventually run south on Rural, turning east on Chandler Boulevard to connect with Chandler Fashion Center. The Rural Road service lacks funding, but officials are still planning for it because they see a high demand for it.

Tempe wants the streetcar to bolster the section of Mill it will run along, much like the 20-mile long Metro rail line has spurred development along formerly desolate parts of Apache Boulevard.

But the streetcar would have a different character than rail. It would share the street with traffic, rather than having its own lane. Also, the line would likely run along the sidewalk instead of in the middle of the road. The 2.5-mile stretch would have six stops.

The streetcar was chosen instead of light rail because it's a more intimate type of transit.

"It really is a good technology for this corridor," said John Farry, Metro's director of community and government relations. "It operates well in mixed traffic, it's compatible with on-street parking, it shares the lanes with buses and cars, it's safer in high-pedestrian areas." The bus-size streetcars would carry about 1,110 to 1,600 passengers a day in their first year, Coomer said.

"That is our initial estimate of ridership," Coomer said. "We haven't included special events and in Tempe, you know we have a ton of special events."

The line would open in 2017, following about three years of construction.

Streetcar construction would likely be a less disruptive proposition than the light rail work. The streetcar is lighter, so crews don't have to dig as deep into the street or move as many utilities. The utility relocation is the most agonizing part of construction.

Tempe would not have to buy as many properties as the Metro rail line required, Coomer said.

"There might be a couple of spots at station locations where we need little slivers of right-of-way," she said. "At this point, we're not expecting any major right-of-way-takes."

Planners will do more detailed studies later this year to determine the exact scope of work, Farry said.

The project will cost $150 million to $175 million. Up to $75 million would come from the federal government, and local and regional money would fund the remainder.

If You Go
What: Tempe and Chandler transit study meeting
When: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Pyle Adult Recreation Center, 655 E. Southern Ave., Tempe

Lawsuit aims for state to return funds to transportation programs
Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:23 pm | Updated: 7:27 am, Wed Jun 16, 2010.
Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tribune

A public-interest law firm wants a federal judge to force lawmakers and the governor to give back the money they took from local transportation programs.

Legal papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court said the money raided earlier this year to balance the budget had been earmarked for mass transit and other projects. More to the point, the funding of those projects was used by the state to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it was working to comply with air quality rules.

What that means, according to Joy Herr-Cardillo, attorney for the Arizona Center for the Law in the Public Interest, is the state is no longer in compliance with its agreement with the EPA to reduce both carbon monoxide and particulate emissions. She wants the court to enforce the deal between the state and the EPA by requiring the money be put back.

“The state cannot just arbitrarily eliminate programs to promote clean air, especially if those programs are part of a plan to meet health-based standards for air quality,” Herr-Cardillo said in a prepared statement. “Mass transit funding is an important component of the state air quality plans and reducing transportation pollution.”

Herr-Cardillo said the legal problem for the state in taking the funds involves only Maricopa County.

But she said other areas of the state have their own air quality problems. And while there is not the same legal obligation to fund mass transit, she said there are health and air quality implications from the decision to take the money.

The funding goes back to 1993, when the state agreed to divert $18 million a year in lottery proceeds to the “local transportation assistance fund.” Much of that cash is earmarked for mass transit.

But the state budget adopted earlier this year eliminates those funds, a move lawmakers made with the blessing of Gov. Jan Brewer.

Herr-Cardillo did give the state a chance to correct the problem, sending a letter to Brewer two months ago asking the cash be restored.

Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said at that time Brewer believes the funding shift was necessary.

“This is another example of tough budget times leading to tough decisions,” he said. Senseman said Brewer has asked the state Department of Environmental Quality to review the potential lawsuit.

He said, though, that the governor wants to “continue making clean air progress throughout the state using all available tools, including smart transportation.”

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