Concerns over the sustainability of Delaware’s paratransit system marked DelDOT’s hearing with the Joint Finance Committee Wednesday.
Public testimony from nonprofit officials and residents highlighted worries over insufficient money to outside programs and inefficiencies within the agency.
Currently, eight percent of riders use paratransit, but the service makes up more than 45 percent of the Delaware Transit Corporation budget.
Sussex County adult services nonprofit CHEER says it needs more money from DelDOT to keep providing transportation for the elderly and disabled.
CHEER Deputy Director Ken Bock book-ended the state agency’s presentation to the Joint Finance Committee Wednesday asking for another $45,000 this year.
Bock says his company has discontinued certain services and put restrictions on others due to a stagnation of state funding.
“The Sussex County portion of that budget has not seen an increase in ten years. Obviously, anybody who has pulled into the gas pumps in the last few months knows that you’re not buying gas for what it cost ten years ago,” noted Bock.
Bock adds that a boom in the aging population downstate is further constricting his budget.
Bock's call for funds came after DelDOT officials touched on their own problems providing sustainable and affordable para-transit services.
Shailen Bhatt, Secretary of Transportation, says a soon to be completed study from the University of Delaware should help the state define its priorities and options.
“The report is only as valuable as the action that you take. And so what we’re going to do is work collaboratively with all the stakeholders in this and say, ‘Look, this is what we want as a state to deliver and these are the steps we need to deliver that," said Bhatt
UD researchers will present their findings in May. JFC members will consider the request as they continue writing the fiscal year 2014 budget.