Transit system looks at needs of elderly

How the Citizens Area Transit system can better serve seniors was the focus of Tuesday's Regional Transportation Commission meeting.

Bruce Turner, principal planner for the RTC, said looking toward the future is vital considering that 165,000 seniors ages 62-85 who will require additional services are projected to live in Clark County by 2000.

Some options before the RTC include a fixed route-integral paratransit, which would deviate on request from scheduled routes to pick up certified disabled people, and a paratransit-using taxi contractor, which would be a bus reservation system without a specific route.

"We need to decide what aspect the RTC is going to emphasize," he said. "The message is that there are a variety of needs and we are going to have to meet these in a variety of ways. The RTC will have to decide how to provide the largest amount of service."

Ralph Steele, a member of the seniors advisory committee, suggested another option -- the paratransit-targeting specific group -- which would provide a separate "elder bus service" strictly for elderly, thus reducing demands made on the paratransit system.

"The current system is going to create friction between disabled people and senior citizens," he said. "We could use paratransit for disabled and an 'elder bus' for the elderly."

Earlier in the meeting, the 13 committee members present unanimously approved replacing the CAT monthly flash pass with a 30-day rolling pass. Mark Mohan, revenue supervisor for the RTC, demonstrated the new pass that will go before the full RTC board Aug. 13. If approved, the pass will go on sale by Aug. 20.

The current flash pass is good for service 30 calendar days from purchase. The new rolling pass would go into use the first time it is swiped, with riders able to buy six or seven passes at one time at 70 locations around the valley.

The first time the card is used it would be validated by a magnetic strip through a new Transfer Reader Issue Machine, which prints the date on the back. Each subsequent time the pass is used, the rider just swipes the card through the machine.

"This frees the operator from having to hit a key (to authorize the pass), and allows us greater flexibility for additional fare media," he said.

The pass also complements visually impaired riders. The pass is cut in the upper right hand corner so impaired riders can feel which way the card is facing in order to swipe it through the machine correctly.

A bi-fold pamphlet describing how to operate the card will be issued with each pass, available in English and Spanish, he said.

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