Burbank’s Shuttle Service for Elderly Faces Cuts

Sales tax revenues will fall by about 9% for the agency that provides rides for more than 1,000 elderly and disabled Burbank residents for the fiscal year beginning July 1, and transportation officials are studying ways to cut costs.

“We’ve been told to expect a reduction,” said G. William Lundgren, transportation administrator in Burbank’s city planning department.

State funds to the city of Burbank provided $866,000 for the special transportation programs this year. Most of that funding is used to run the Burbank Transportation Service, a six-van operation that runs seven days a week. The city had projected a 1993-94 budget of $950,000 for the program.

Instead, Burbank will only receive about $788,000.

The Burbank Transportation Services Task Force, a group formed to look at efficiency of the city’s transportation six months ago, will have to decide what recommendations to make to the City Council, such as scaling back services, cutting costs, finding other sources of revenue, or finding ways of increasing efficiency, Lundgren said.

“There’s a number of areas for the council to look at,” Lundgren said. The task force, made up of representatives of city boards dealing with the disabled, senior services, parks and recreation and transportation, will meet next month to finalize a report to the council.

The Burbank Transportation Service has been running since the 1970s, said Mary J. Alvord, director of the Parks and Recreation Department which oversees the service. Those who need a ride for medical appointments, to agencies or other errands make reservations ahead of time. The service runs from 7 a.m. until the evening. Evening runs are on an as-needed basis, Alvord said.

Alvord said there are 1,286 people registered to use the service, with an average 225 trips on weekdays and 75 trips on weekends. In 1990-91, the service offered 65,000 one-way rides.