Brennan works to re-establish regional para-transit system

Date: 1/30/2012

Jan. 30, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW — Council on Aging Executive Director Carolyn Brennan hopes to re-establish a regional para-transit system she helped found a decade ago.

Brennan received the blessing of the Board of Selectmen to pursue this option after presenting her case at the Jan. 24 meeting.

“I am looking to go back to a system we had about 10 years ago in Hampden when I was the director there. It was a service we provided called the ‘Tri-town Trolley’ and we did regional transportation for Hampden, Wilbraham and East Longmeadow.”

The cost of transportation is a major concern for seniors that has forced many to make tough choices, she said.

“I had just begun discussions with the PVTA [Pioneer Valley Transit Authority] about a month ago about coordinating para-transit services,” she said. “A lot of factors have come into play and one of them is it’s extremely expensive for seniors to use the para-transit services — $3.50 each way. If they were going to come to the senior center to have lunch, it’s literally $7 for them to have lunch, $35 a week.

“They’re making decisions between food, medicine and other things. We’ve identified that as a need and because, historically, it’s been my experience that you can run a regional para-transit service, I’d like to start from ground zero again,” Brennan added.

Brennan explained that to start out, she would look to establish a partnership between East Longmeadow and Hampden because Hampden has no transportation services for seniors.

“I’ve had discussions with Becky [Moriarty], the director of the Council on Aging in Hampden as well as the Board of Selectmen there and they are in support of at least pursuing it,” she said.

Brennan said she intends for the system to be self-sufficient and does not plan to go to either town with requests for funding.

“I did recently submit a grant from the Department of Elder Affairs to see if we could get some start-up costs for the salaries for the dispatcher and the driver,” she said. “I’m committed to moving forward whether we get that or not.”

Brennan said she hopes to have the program started by April.