Montgomery County is looking to slash a program that subsidizes taxi rides for low-income seniors and the disabled, groups that advocates say can ill-afford to lose a vital service.
The county’s Call ‘N’ Ride program allows seniors and the disabled who make less than $25,000 a year to buy two $60 taxi voucher books a month. The cost of the books varies by an individual’s income. Most of the program’s participants make less than $14,000 a year and pay $5.25 per book.
The program’s budget is $4.4 million for the current fiscal year. County Executive Ike Leggett is proposing that the county limit the number of books sold to individuals to one a month, which would save the county $748,000 during the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends in June.
Disability advocates and the taxi industry are opposed to the move, saying it hurts the county’s most needy, as well as cab drivers.
David Sharp, a Gaithersburg resident and chairman of Maryland’s Statewide Independent Living Council, said many people who use Call ‘N’ Ride have few other options to get around.
“It’s going to be a significant loss,” he said.
MetroAccess offers transportation service for the disabled, but arrangements need to be made a day in advance, trips take longer because of shared rides, and there have been a number of complaints about its service. Metro officials last week suspended two MetroAccess employees after a 90-year-old woman and two other customers disappeared for more than five hours.
The ability to use a taxi gives much-needed “flexibility” to county residents who use the program, said Cindy Buddington, a member of the county’s Commission on People With Disabilities.
Leggett has said that preserving the county’s “safety net” is one of his guiding principles when making budget decisions. His spokesman, Patrick Lacefield, said the proposed reductions were made reluctantly, and with the knowledge that needy residents would be able to still buy one coupon book a month.
The taxi industry also is criticizing the cuts, saying they would put a significant dent in its revenues.
Reza Raoofi, president of Action Taxicab and the Coalition for a Competitive Taxicab Industry, said cab companies rely on Call ‘N’ Ride for 12 percent of their annual income, and a reduction in spending on the program would hurt the struggling industry.
