Disabled and senior riders ask START not to charge for disability bus rides

START's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit bus is the subject of two letters asking the START Board not to charge riders. The letters come ahead of a 25-minute hearing on proposed fare changes Thursday at 3:30 p.m., held online only on Zoom. "I think we the dissabled should not be charged a fee," Dana Kelsey wrote Sept. 21 (public comment). Kelsey said most riders live on low fixed incomes, many can't handle cash and drivers shouldn't have to collect it. Rosemary Guderian, a Pioneer Homestead resident, has ridden the ADA bus to work, groceries and doctor visits since 2019. She wrote that she can pay while she still works and thanked the board for the half-off charges. She worries about senior neighbors on tight budgets. The hearing agenda lists no vote. The board's next regular meeting is Oct. 22.

On Aug. 31, the joint Town Council and County Commission board told staff to start putting in place a flat fare: $2 one-way on On-Demand and in-town routes, $4 on Village routes and $10 on the Star Valley and Teton Valley commuters, with half off for riders 60 and older (Sept. 14 packet). Staff estimated the fares would bring in about $117,000 in fiscal 2027 toward a $1.5 million federal shortfall. The board will give final approval after a Title VI review. Before that decision, the START Board projected that an earlier version of the fare plan would cost about 82,000 rides in its first year (Aug. 31 packet). The table approved Aug. 31 has no separate ADA line, so it is still unclear what paratransit riders would pay.