OAK PARK : Cab Service to Aid Seniors, Disabled

Some Oak Park residents--who have long complained that they are isolated by a limited public transportation system--will soon be able to use a county-subsidized cab service to travel to any location in Thousand Oaks.

Details of the Dial-A-Ride service are yet to be worked out with the Thousand Oaks Cab Co., but county supervisors Monday allocated $12,000 of federal transportation funds to subsidize the Oak Park-Thousand Oaks service.

For now, the service will be limited to seniors and the disabled. But if heavily used, the county will consider expanding the service, county Supervisor Frank Schillo said.

Cheryl Vuesterhoft, president of the cab company, said the service will probably start in the beginning of October and cost $3 per ride.

Oak Park residents can now travel only as far as Agoura Hills using the Dial-A-Ride service. Each ride costs $1.50 and there is sometimes a waiting list for a cab, Schillo said.

Oak Park residents can also use the county’s intercity bus service, VISTA, to travel to Oak Park, Simi Valley, Moorpark and two locations in Thousand Oaks, but the service is infrequent.

“Dial-A-Ride will open up the gamut to our seniors,” Oak Park Councilman Chuck Monico said. “They will now be able shop, go to Los Robles hospital to see their doctors and go places they really had no way to get to until now.”