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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Transit Authority is proposing big changes to the service it provides for the handicapped. It's part of a larger round of budget cuts UTA is dealing with.
According to General Manager John Inglish, record high fuel prices between 2007 and 2008 increased UTA's expenses by $6.9 million. That's on top of an $18 million drop in sales tax revenues by the end of 2008.
Inglish says UTA is not singling out the paratransit service with the cuts; the authority has cut fixed route bus trips it has found to be inefficient, put hiring freezes and delays into effect, cut budgets across nearly every department, and deferred raises and work on future capital projects.
UTA has identified around $1.6 million that can be saved right off the bat with cuts to paratransit. Under the rules of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), UTA has to provide paratransit service within 3/4-mile of a bus route or rail station that runs all day, and paratransit service must operate during the same hours and days as its fixed route service. Additionally, UTA cannot charge more than twice the regular fixed route far for paratransit service.
With those rules in mind, UTA is proposing reducing its service area to a ¾-mile radius around TRAX stations, MAX stations and FrontRunner stations.
Then UTA would increase the one-way fare for paratransit to double the non-discounted regular adult fare for fixed route service. Right now, paratransit's one-way fare is $2.50. Under that model, it would be raised to $4.
Finally, UTA would stop offering fare discounts on ADA paratransit service.
The good news is people who are eligible for paratransit service are currently able to ride Trax and fixed-route bus service at no charge. That will not change under the budget cuts.
Inglish says they're also trying to find ways to reverse the actions they're proposing now in the future. "The best case scenario is [if we could] figure out a way to redirect the resources that are coming in from the federal and the state and the private agencies, nonprofit agencies - we find a way to redirect those resources, consolidate that into a service that will provide a high level of service to people who live in those areas [that will be outside the ¾-mile zones]," Inglish said. "It might be taxi services, based on vouchers, subsidized vouchers, it might be a whole separate system that serves these outlying areas. It's hard to say at this point. But that's our objective, to find the resources and the means to provide service not only to the people that we're serving who will be without service, but the people who we're not serving today who have needed service for a long time."
Inglish says UTA currently spends about $15 million on its paratransit service out of its total budget of around $200 million or so. He says they need to try to cut $3.5 million from the paratransit budget.
You can contact UTA for more information about the changes by calling 1-877-882-7272. You may also attend one of the upcoming public hearings on the proposals.
Those hearings are:
*Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. at the UTA office at 3600 South 700 West in Salt Lake City.
*Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at the South City Campus of Salt Lake Community College, 1575 South State Street in Salt Lake City
*Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. in the "large meeting room" at the Provo Library, 550 North University Ave. in Provo
*Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Tooele County Building, 47 South Main Street in Tooele
*Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in the gymnasium at South Valley School, 8400 South 1700 West in West Jordan
*Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. in the "large meeting room" at the Weber County Main Library, 2464 Jefferson Ave. in Ogden
*Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in the council chambers of Brigham City Hall, 20 North Main Street in Brigham City
*Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of Farmington City Hall, 130 North Main Street in Farmington
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
