Local News
Thursday, October 29, 2009
SCAT begins journey into 21st centuryStaff Writer
SCAT Executive Director Linda Good has been dreaming about bringing the transportation agency into the 21st century.
To do that, the agency needs technological upgrades and a new facility. And now that dream is about to become reality due to the agency receiving $2 million in federal stimulus monies.
The organization has been allocated $1 million toward the construction on land next to the Job and Family Service building on Township Road 151 in Tiffin. An additional $100,000 has been designated for the new building’s project design and development, including the employ of an architect and engineering firm.
Additional stimulus funding of $800,000 have yet to be received but are planned for the construction project.
Until the implementation of a computerized scheduling system, SCAT scheduling and dispatch workers have been arranging rides on handwritten manifests, making rescheduling difficult, especially in cases of school delays and cancellations. An amount of $55,000 has been granted to SCAT by the federal government to purchase a new system.
Boxes of passenger reservation cards fill the present modestly sized office at the Seneca County Agricultural Service Center on Ohio 100 in Tiffin.
Good hopes to instate a new system that would have GPS capabilities, speed up the scheduling process and allow her to sift through statistics, demographics and trends in routes in order to provide better service.
She plans to make this information available to agencies like the United Way, which funds programming that makes rides available through scholarships to disabled and senior citizens of Fostoria.
The agency is talking with software companies who have been giving demonstrations of programs SCAT may potentially put to use.
“With our current system, it takes over a year to learn how to schedule effectively and to be able to tweak for efficiency,” she said. “Our biggest fear is right now, we fine-tune the schedules by hand with a real personal touch and we don’t want to lose that efficiency. But it will save us so much time.”
Three new vehicles including a 14-passenger light-transit vehicle, a 10-passenger narrow-body van and a modified minivan have been ordered by the agency with another $127,000 grant, and $26,500 in funds has been designated to maintenance of their fleet.
High demand for rides has made these purchases necessary, said Good.
“We had 373 rides on Wednesday alone, and that was including a trip to Cleveland Clinic, Toledo, Bucyrus and a couple trips to Findlay,” she said. “A lot of it has to do with the fact that we’re in an economically depressed area and a lot of people just don’t have the money to pay for insurance or to upkeep a vehicle right now.”
SCAT arranged more than 17,000 rides in the past quarter alone and has four buses stationed full-time in Fostoria.
Within city limits the fare is $2, trips within a three-mile radius of the city are $3, within 7 miles $4 and all other county trips cost $5. Out-of-county trips are available, too, as SCAT regularly transports clients to hospital visits as far as Toledo, Cleveland, Lima and Findlay.
“We went through to really think about where we could create jobs and improve our services when applying for these grants,” said Good. “We’ve always asked for exactly what we’ve needed, and nothing more.”
To arrange a ride, call SCAT toll-free at 1-800-722-8852.
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Ph: (419) 435-6641 • Fax: (419) 435-9073
113 E. Center St. • P.O. Box 947
Fostoria, OH 44830
The Findlay Publishing Company
P.O. Box 609
Findlay, OH 45839-0609
Phone: (419) 422-5151
www.findlaypublishing.com
Please read our privacy guidelines
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