Local News in Brief : Countywide : Dial-a-Ride to the Gym Attacked by Stanton
The door-to-door van service offered by the Orange County Transit District came under fire again Monday from Supervisor Roger R. Stanton who charged that the dial-a-ride program is subsidizing people’s trips to private gyms.
Stanton, who attacked the cost of the dial-a-ride program last year, raised the issue again at a meeting of the transit district board, of which he is a member.
“I still think we’d lose less money if we gave the service free to seniors and the handicapped,” Stanton said after the board meeting. “I think we ought to cut it off for people going to the gym.”
Stanton said a recent OCTD brochure advertised dial-a-ride as a custom service available for trips to shops, school or the gym. “I’m convinced that the public does not want to subsidize that kind of service.”
Dial-a-ride had 1.6 million boardings in the 1987-88 fiscal year, OCTD officials said. Fare box revenue amounted to only 13.3% of the program’s costs. The rest of the money comes from state, federal and local tax revenues.
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