LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — Palm Tran is changing their services to people with disabilities.
The public transportation service for Palm Beach County currently allows people who qualify based on disability and lower income status, to get a ride to anywhere in Palm Beach County for $3.50 through a program called Connection.
But a new proposal would limit people’s travels to three-fourths of a mile away from a bus stop, and increase the price by 50 cents.
Palm Tran also said it would create a new program, called Connection Plus, allowing people to travel anywhere in the county, but people will have to wait longer for vehicles and share rides with more people. Officials said the price increase will extend to people using this program as well.
Officials told county commissioners their motivation for the change was to save money, since the average cost per trip is $52.
“It has gotten to the point where we are providing more social service transportation than actual public transportation,” said an official to county commissioners on Tuesday.
The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center said the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that complementary paratransit service must be provided within three-fourths of a mile from a bus route or rail station, at the same hours and days, for no more than twice the regular fixed route fare. The county exceeds the regulation through the current Connection program. The changes to Connection will reduce services to their statutory minimum.
Amanda Merten, who lives in Palm Beach County, currently uses the program because she uses a power chair after numerous surgeries and medical conditions. She said she currently shares rides with other people and waits at least half an hour to get a car, so she’s concerned the changes would led to her missing medical appointments.
“I would probably have cabin fever sitting in here for too long,” she told WPTV’s Ethan Stein on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t be able to get to my doctor appointments, my therapy, physical or occupational; I wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
Data from the agency presented at a commission meeting suggests the current program takes people on thousands of trips per day, but officials said they only have 300 vehicles.
