Myride Service 'As Comprehensive and Effective As Possible'?

New Haven Register › March 09, 2009

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Summary

A letter writer, a nurse in a doctor's office, said patients using the MyRide service have to be ready and waiting when the vehicle arrives and indicated this is "extremely inconvenient." She asked, "How hard is it to give us a few minutes notice?" The short answer is it would not be hard at all. It would be expensive. On an average weekday, the Greater New Haven Transit District through its MyRide programs transports about 225 individuals. Each generally travels both to and from an appointment, resulting in about 550 trips. If a phone call were made each time a vehicle was within a few minutes of arriving and it took no more than three minutes to make the call, the total time needed would be 27.5 hours -- somewhat less on the weekend. Even if these calls were made by part-time individuals paid at minimum wage, the annual cost would be over $60,000.

Since we are facing the possibility of losing a significant portion of our funding next year due to state budget constraints, I do not believe we will be able to commit that amount of money to this task.