Dustin Lamore works in the kitchen at an eldercare home in Shelburne, helping to prepare meals for 200 people each day. He’s also blind, which makes getting to work from his Colchester residence each morning a challenge.
The 36-year-old makes use of a state program that provides free, on-demand rides to older adults and people with disabilities. In Chittenden County, Green Mountain Transit has long contracted with the Special Services Transportation Agency, or SSTA, to shuttle users to medical appointments, grocery stores, church services and job sites.
But that program is running out of money, fast, which could leave Lamore without a way to get to work as soon as next month.
“You’re talking about taking away my only mode of transportation,” Lamore said. “I’m beyond frustrated.”
Lamore and others who use the program in Chittenden County are facing new restrictions on the types of trips they may take and how often they can call for a ride. Rides to work and for personal purposes are most likely to go away, Green Mountain Transit General Manager Clayton Clark said.
“You’re talking about taking away my only mode of transportation.”Dustin Lamore
Clark said he is reluctant to pare back the service, which helps hundreds of people stay connected with their communities and retain their independence.
“Social isolation is extremely bad for people who are living at home with a disability, or who are older,” he said.
But in Chittenden County, the Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities Transportation Program has nearly blown through its $455,000 annual budget in a matter of months, prompting a scramble by local and state officials to find more cash and control costs.
Public transit throughout Vermont faces broad fiscal challenges brought on by stagnant ridership and soaring costs. But unlike Green Mountain Transit’s fixed-route bus service, the on-demand program for older and disabled residents has seen big increases in riders. More than 600 people used the service in Chittenden County last year, and ridership has jumped nearly 25% so far this fiscal year, Clark said.
The cost per ride has spiked as well, not just in Chittenden County. Since the pandemic, fewer people drive the shuttles on a volunteer basis, while consolidation in the state’s health care industry has led to longer trip distances to medical appointments, said Ross MacDonald, public transit program manager for the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
And with a rapidly aging population, officials don’t expect demand to ease anytime soon.
But at a select board meeting Tuesday night in Colchester, Lamore and others told their elected leaders that the restrictions would disrupt their lives.
Rider Debbie Drewniak, 67, said she uses the shuttles to shop for groceries and get to her frequent medical and physical therapy appointments. She’s had limited mobility since a distracted driver struck her while she was walking her Labrador in 2011. The accident also left her with a traumatic brain injury.
“Most of my friends work and are not available to bring me anywhere during the day,” she said.
Drewniak learned of imminent restrictions in a letter she received last month from Green Mountain Transit. The agency has since pushed the changes back until late February, and is allowing towns to pay for additional rides out of their local budgets.
The state transportation agency set aside $265,000 to help shore up the program in Chittenden County. Green Mountain Transit also expects to spend as much as $100,000 from its reserves, and select board members in Williston signaled their intent last week to contribute more municipal funds to limit new trip restrictions. Colchester town leaders said Tuesday that they would look for volunteer drivers and other ways to ease the burden on users there.
The proposed restrictions in Chittenden County — which took effect in Washington, Grand Isle and Franklin counties last month — mirror those that have been in place in other Vermont counties for years.
Northeast Kingdom residents have long been limited to four trips to medical appointments and two to grocery stores per month, Rural Community Transportation spokesperson Lilias Ide said.
Unless others step up, that may be the direction that Chittenden County is headed, too. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to address costs,” MacDonald said.
Lamore said he already tries to limit his use of the service as much as possible. Of the 12 trips he needs to get back and forth to his job at the eldercare home each week, he’s able to arrange private transportation for nine of them.
His continued financial independence, Lamore said, could hinge on whether he can find a ride for the other three.
