By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Significant rate increases and service reductions are coming for those who utilize Pomona Valley Transportation Authority Get About services.

Its eight-member board voted unanimous June 4 to more than double fees in Claremont, La Verne, Pomona and San Dimas. The new fees and reduced operating hours, which go into effect July 1, are estimated to save $2.5 million per year.

One-way trips fares for Get About and Get About Extended — which have not exceeded $1 since Get About was established in 1985 — will now cost $2.75 and $3.75, respectively. Its operating hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, with no Sunday service. The Transportation Authority will cease offering its One Step Over the Line program, which had previously served San Bernardino County passengers, and will redirect the roughly $500,000 in savings to Ready Now, its on demand  program for seniors and those with disabilities.

The Transportation Authority was established in 1977. CEO Nicole Carranza attributed the changes to inflation, rising wages, maintenance and overhead costs, and falling revenue.

“This service is very important to you. We understand that,” said Transportation Authority Board member and Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay at the June 4 meeting. “But I hope you can also equally understand that we can’t run a service with money we don’t have, and that’s really what it’s coming down to.”

Board member and Pomona Vice Mayor Nora Garcia said the decisions were not taken lightly.

“I really think that’s the message we need to get across here: it’s not that we want to do this, it’s that we have, in my opinion, no other choice but to do this. And it was a collective decision by the cities that sit on this board,” Garcia said.

Transportation Authority staff gathered community feedback in May: 141 respondents disapproved of the changes, two supported, and one was undecided.

Service users and drivers tried one last time to sway the board during public comment, but to no avail.

“I can’t go shopping. I can’t go out and get books,” said former teacher and Pomona resident June Moran, 80, who is on a fixed income. The changes mean she’ll only be able to use the service for essentials, such as medical appointments, she said.

Pomona resident June Moran speaks out in opposition to the rate increase and service reduction at the June 4 Transportation Authority meeting. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Seventy-eight-year-old Cecilia Ochoa, also a Pomona resident on a fixed income, said the increases will be tough on seniors. “We’re all on a budget and it’s also hard because … I own my house, but … the money goes here, money goes there. Money goes fast,” Ochoa said.

Some, such as disabled La Verne resident Richard Pena, 65, who uses a mobility scooter to get around, supported the move.

“I’ll be willing to pay more to keep the services the way they are and to match that budget,” Pena said. “If I pay more, it’s still going to be less than hiring a private taxi. I need the Get About bus to put this scooter in.”

The reduction in service hours will mean drivers will spend less time on the road, going from 25,000 hours this year to 15,000 in the next fiscal year.

The board reviewed and approved PVTA’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year on June 4. Its operating budget for the next 12 months starting July 1 will be $4.38 million, which includes about $3 million in Proposition A funds from Claremont, La Verne, Pomona, and San Dimas. Claremont’s portion is projected at $332,439; Pomona’s about $2 million; La Verne’s, $452,461; and San Dimas’s, $249,253.

Calaycay, who also serves on the Foothill Transit Governing Board, said other transportation agencies are responding to similar budget pains.

“All transit agencies are struggling with this,” Calaycay said. “Contracts are higher. Costs of operating are higher. So, it’s not just any kind of misstep of this organization. We’re all, in transportation, out struggling with this.”

Torres said it was possible Trump administration policies have also played a role in the budget shortfall.

“I’m not going to say directly it did, but I am going to say that the budgets that have been coming from LA County, from the state, from the federal government, that cannot be ignored. It’s going to hit people who need Pomona Valley Transit Authority very severely,” Torres said. “I mean, I would not be surprised if we don’t have as many rides requested because people just can’t get to their doctors.”

Carranza projected the Transportation Authority’s 2025-26 reserves to be about $1.1 million. Claremont does not contribute monetarily to its capital and technology funds, instead supplying nine vehicles for transportation in lieu of the fee.