Paul Clinton
CIVIC CENTER -- For now, the wheels will keep on rolling.
Despite reports of low ridership, the City Council voted Tuesday to
extend a contract with a Rosemead transit company to keep a free
after-school youth transportation program on the road.
The council, with Mayor Stacey Murphy absent, unanimously approved a
$25,200 payment to San Gabriel Transit Inc. Tuesday, extending the Got
Wheels! program until March 31. In addition, the council said it planned
to operate the program on its own after March to save money.
Shortly before council members approved the extension, they said they
still believed in Got Wheels!
"When more people find out about it, it's really going to be a solid
service," Councilman Dave Golonski said.
The council introduced Got Wheels! during the summer. Tuesday's action
marked the program's third extension since October.
Got Wheels! consists of four, 20-seat San Gabriel Transit buses that
make 27 stops along a 15-mile circular route from 2:25 to 7:15 p.m.
weekdays. The buses carry children between city schools, libraries, the
YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, and other locations.
Some city officials have complained about low ridership on the buses,
which carry about 500 riders a week. On Tuesday, the council agreed to
extend the program but canceled the rider-thin Saturday service.
"We dropped Saturday," Recreation Program Coordinator Mickey DePalo
said. "But the weekday schedule is doing fine. We're serving a lot of
kids."
To increase ridership, DePalo said program operators have been
distributing flyers at Burbank schools.
Hillary Duran, an eighth-grader at Jordan Middle School, told the
council Tuesday that she uses the buses as often as she can.
"It enables me to go basically anywhere in the city," Duran said.
"It's a great program."
Between now and the end of March, the city will develop its own
transit operation, Park and Recreation Director Mary Alvord said. The
city plans to use several busses from the Burbank Transportation Service,
along with part-time drivers.
Also on Tuesday, the council agreed to give bus operator San Gabriel
Transit a raise. Compensation for the company was increased from $33.85
to $37 per hour.
