Times Shamrock Newspaper Group (Includes Scranton Times-Tribune)

Northeast may finally board state’s free-ride program

July 4, 2007

HARRISBURG — Northeastern Pennsylvania is an underserved region when it comes to a state-subsidized ride program for the disabled. The transportation funding bill passed by the House last week would remedy that.

The PennDOT-sponsored ride program is considered a “last resort” for disabled individuals age 18 to 64 who have no other recourse to regular transportation for rides for jobs and appointments. In most cases, these individuals themselves don’t drive, don’t live near a bus line, can’t afford cab fare or have friends and relatives who cannot give them a lift because they are working.

Through the Rural Transportation for People with Disabilities program, PennDOT contracts with local transit agencies to provide the rides. These rides are reserved in advance and go to specific destinations.

The program operates in 51 of the state’s 67 counties.

But 16 counties are without the program, including the geographic cluster of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, Wyoming, Susquehanna and Montour counties.

An advocacy group, the Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council, is calling for a final expansion of the program to include the entire state. The council says passage of the transportation bill, authored by Rep. Keith McCall, D-Carbon, would accomplish that goal.

“Why should they (disabled indivduals in the 16 counties) not have the same opportunity to go to work, school or other activities because they live in an area without the program?” asks council spokesman Kevin Hensil.

The program started in 2001 as a pilot project. Since then, PennDOT has provided funding in state budgets to expand the program in stages. PennDOT responded first to counties that asked to be included, said spokesman Steve Chizmar.

If a transportation funding package isn’t enacted, PennDOT has no plans to expand the program in fiscal 2007-08 because of tight finances, added Mr. Chizmar.

Who’s preferred?

For years, Scranton’s Everhart Museum has been among a select group of urban non-profit and private institutions receiving state aid annually through a mechanism known as the “nonpreferred” appropriation.

Everhart Museum is on track to receive $42,000 in next year’s state budget, but some state lawmakers want to overhaul the entire nonpreferred arrangement on the grounds of fairness.

Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria, offered an amendment to cut the combined $2 million nonpreferred appropriation for seven museums, including Everhart, in half. Mr. Wozniak proposed to let other museums compete for the $1 million pot. The amendment failed 29-21, but Mr. Wozniak said he is heartened by the support he got.

In the House, Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton, planned to offer similar amendments, but he withdrew them in exchange for the creation of a task force to study the nonpreferred issue, said Mike Manzo, aide to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene.