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Transit panel navigates challenges

NILES — The Trumbull County Transit Board and the company it contracts with are walking a tight rope in an effort to provide rides on a first-come, first-served basis, while ensuring sponsored customers are getting services.

The board gets funding in a couple of different ways — in sponsored agreements with organizations like the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, which pays up front for its clients’ rides, and through government grants, said Mark Hess, board administrator.

The grants require the board to operate as a public transportation system, meaning anyone, in theory, could sign up for one of the cheap rides on a first-come, first-served basis. But sponsored groups may not have incentive to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars if their clients don’t get rides when they need them.

Although the board has had to navigate this in the past, there wasn’t a problem ensuring the sponsored riders had a spot on one of Community Bus Services’ vehicles, Hess said.

“It worked for a long time, because the majority of trips are for people who are seniors or disabled and we never had a big demand for people that weren’t seniors,” Hess said.

But CBS was providing rides it wasn’t being reimbursed for to ensure no one got turned away for a ride. However, that practice had to end, Hess said.

So, this year, there are fewer rides to go around and the balancing act is becoming tighter. And, because the board received an increase of senior levy dollars from the county, the county wants to track the number of rides seniors are getting.

“It is becoming quite a dilemma,” said Terry Thomas, president of the bus service.

Thomas said he needs to have “crystal clear” guidance on how to handle the issue. The company is working on scheduling software that would compile reservations submitted in various ways, and is also adding a customer service line, but the operators need to know how to respond to the dilemma, Thomas said.

“We need to be able to bring all of these different needs into one system,” Thomas said.

Hess said a strategy is being worked out.

Dave Mirkin, owner of Youngstown-based Comfort Keepers, suggested ride schedulers inquire about a potential rider’s insurance if he or she is going to be turned away from a ride. The person might not know that their insurance company will pay for certain rides from companies that charge more than some seniors or disabled could afford on their own, Mirkin said.

“Most consumers have no idea their insurance company will pay for this,” Mirkin said.

The transit board offers rides for a couple of dollars, not the $20 to $60 it actually costs.

Thomas said he likes the idea — “There is more business out there than any one company can handle.”

Mirkin said companies like his can no longer allow their employees to give the clients of their in-home care services rides to their appointments, opening up a new need for rides.

rfox@tribtoday.com

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