Business Group Offers Ride Tokens to Needy

In an effort to ease the cost of getting around for needy and homeless people, the Central City Assn. has given out nearly 2,000 free rides on public transportation.

The program, called TENS for Tokens for Emergency Needs, has distributed 1,965 tickets to needy people through 26 downtown community organizations over the past two weeks. The tickets were given to those individuals applying for work, and to women and children, said Dr. Victor Kops, chairman of the Central City Assn. The association represents business interests in downtown.

“We feel that it’s good business to help people get the help they need to get them off the streets and put them back on the working road,” Kops said.

“All of the services--welfare, medical, housing, food and jobs--are there, but they need to have some form of transportation to get them there. We felt that we could maximize the use of these public services by plugging them into the transportation root.”

Good for Bus, Trolley

Each ticket--valued at $1--is good for a one-way fare on public transportation.

“The reason we chose the transportation script instead of tokens is that we wanted something that would be good for both the bus and trolley system,” said Dr. Mary Colacicco, executive director of the Traveler’s Aid Society of San Diego.

A member of the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless, Kops said the original idea to provide the free tickets came out of a meeting of the Mayor’s Task Force on the Homeless three years ago.

He said the reason no steps were taken to implement the project before last year was because “there was not enough money to go around in the city budget.”

“There have been so many other things (the city) has been trying to do--like a day center for men or having more emergency beds--that there just isn’t enough money around to satisfy all of our needs,” Kops said. “Therefore, each (community) organization has to take a piece of the responsibility to help out. This is just a small piece of the puzzle.”

A Highly Sought Commodity

The free tickets are in high demand, Kopps said, adding that the 26 community organizations had asked for $4,000 per month for tickets but that his organization was unable to provide them because it fell far short of its goal to raise $35,000 this year.

“All of the 26 organizations have their own transportation funds to help the needy, but they are usually exhausted by the 10th of each month,” Kops said.

He said that because of the budget constraints, the tickets will be given out quarterly rather than monthly as planned. To date, the Central City Assn. has received $3,590 in donations from a fund-raising drive that began in September.

Kops said that his organization is behind schedule in raising money “because everybody is competing for the same charitable dollars.” He is confident, however, that a fund-raising event planned for early June will raise a large sum.