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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thanks Tangi for these excellent minutes highlighting our guest Bobby King and her detailed description of new changes to our Votran accessible transportation ridership rules and practices soon to take effect.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Gratefully,<o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian Edward Norton<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Florida Bar #1033481<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">National Federation of the Blind of Florida NFBF<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">NFBF Greater Daytona Beach President<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Conklin Davis Center for the visually Impaired Vice Chairman<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Conklin Davis Attorney<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"></span><a href="mailto:briannorton.flalaw@gmail.com"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">briannorton.flalaw@gmail.com</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">386.871.3359<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">“Kindness is an Attitude the Blind can See<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk210666211"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">and the Deaf can Hear”- Mark Twain</span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">October 25, 2025 minutes. <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Transcript<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">October 25<sup>th</sup>, 2025, Daytona Beach chapter meeting. We held the meeting at Steve’s Famous Diner. Scott Larson, board member 2, started the meeting at 1PM. We started with Christine Nodal, board
member 1, started with invocation and we went into the pledge of allegiance. We went straight into saying the NFB pledge. Sherry led us in singing GOD BLESS AMERICA. Hello everyone. My name is Scott Larson. I'm a board member here for the chapter of Daytona
beach for Saturday, October 25th, 2025 for our meeting. We do have a speaker, it'll be Bobby King. That's the person that is leading VoTran. I want to say to everyone that she will be speaking and what I want from everyone is to ask some good questions and
like that and to not to, I think, none of the concerns that you have, but concerns for that or some new ideas or new suggestions, please give her a chance to speak. I'm going to let Patricia introduce our speaker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Patricia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi, everybody. I would like to welcome Bobby King. Taking some time out on a Saturday to come and spend time with us, especially when today is her mom's birthday. So we want to make sure that we allow her
to speak. She's here today to tell us about the changes that's going to be coming forward in Votran, and that is basically the topic that she will be talking about. Please, please, if you have any personal situation or anything like that, now is not the time
to bring it up. If you want to speak with her about something, you can call her on the phone or make an appointment to go and speak with her at another time. But today, her primary purpose is to speak about the changes in Votran’s, which, from what I heard,
is going to be pretty good. So I'm excited to have her here. Bobby, thank you for being here, and I'm going to give you the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby King,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thank you Very much. I really appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you all. I'm going to try to speak as loud as I can. Okay, so I'm the director for the transit services. I work for the county,
and we oversee the operations of VOTRAN. I think most of you probably know by now that we just recently hired a new contractor to oversee the operations. We've been working with them for months to try to make sure that we are fully up to speed. They're very
hard workers. But I will tell you right out of the gate that they found that processes were not being followed the way they're supposed to be followed. And they've done a lot of retraining of staff. And so I appreciate your patience. They are working very
diligently to make sure that everybody is up to speed where they need to be. That may mean changes because if it wasn't being done right before, it's going to be done right now. They are being judged on that as a performance requirement by the county. So they're
doing what we're asking them to do. I know a lot of people like to say the new contractor's doing it, but they're not. We are doing it. We're asking them to make sure everything is being done and followed the right way. So having said that, they're helping
us get some service changes put together. And these are service changes that primarily govern around some fixed route areas that are not very well utilized. We've done a lot of analysis of our fixed routes to see where we're not having any ridership on it
or, you know, if some time points needed to be changed or you name it. We looked at all of it to see what needed to be changed to improve it. And so you might have recalled about a year and a half ago, we did something similar on the west side of the county,
and we had very low ridership fixed route buses on the west side of the county. And what transit agencies are doing these days are implementing what's called micro transit in the place of low ridership fixed route. And as you know, fixed route goes one way,
same schedule, doesn't veer off of that road or that route the entire time is running. So if you're not within walking distance or available in that area to get on that bus, you have no service in that area. And so Microtransit actually provides service in
the entire area that we designate it to be in. It's a minivan. It picks you up on demand. You don't have to schedule ahead of time. And so it's less expensive. So we have seen a lot more people on the west side of the county getting actual transit service
now. There is a downside to it. can get very, very popular. It can get very busy at times of the day. And so I hear a lot of complaints. I couldn't get the ride that I wanted when I wanted it. And I have to say, you didn't have anything prior to that. So now
you have options. It may not be every single option that you want. We're doing the best that we can. It will probably at times be hard to get a ride on the west side of the county. So, but it's still a better service. It comes to your location. You don't have
to like go to a bus stop, things like that. So we've looked at trying to implement some of that here on the east side. So we've identified certain areas that we feel like it would be better served as a micro-transit zone. So one of those areas is north of
Granada in Ormond Beach. So I'm going to try to make this as simple as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid asked about Destination Daytona.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I don't think we serve that area now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid - Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But wherever we have fixed route north of Granada, we will be taking that away. So beachside and mainland. We had just two routes in that area. Very low ridership on both routes. I think it was the one and
the three north of Granada. Now those routes south of Granada stay intact. North Granada is going to be replaced with Micro-transit. So, it's called Vo Ride and we're going to continue that same service name on the east side, Vo ride. So the way it works is
You can use an app or you can phone in a request for a trip, but it's on demand. So right now, if you wanted a trip, you could request that trip within 45 minutes. That's the maximum amount of time that you would wait. And so the thing I want to make sure
you all understand is they are not necessarily doing hand-on assistance, door-to-door assistance in this particular service. If you're able to, if you're ambulatory and able to get to the car on your own, you're good to go. You're good to go anywhere you want
to go. It will be essentially for seniors, it's a dollar a trip. If you're transferring to or from a fixed route line, it's free. If you're just going within the zone and you're not transferring to a fixed route, it's a dollar one way. So that's something
I want you to understand very clearly. I know a lot of people think that their pass will no longer be usable, but if you still use the fixed route somewhere along the other routes, you're going to want to keep that pass because it's still the most economical
option for fixed route use. And the beauty of that is then you get that free transfer to and from the Vo ride whenever you want it. Okay, so that's north of Granada. Then New Smyrna Beach. I don't know if anybody here is in New Smyrna Beach, but we had put
something similar in place in New Smyrna Beach about a year ago. It might have been a little bit longer than that. Yeah, about a year and a half ago. Time flies. Anyway, we had one bus that went straight down US 1 in New Smyrna Beach. very, very, very low
ridership. We replaced that bus with a smaller bus. It still runs up and down US 1, stops at all the same stops, runs at the same time that the old big bus used to run. But then we also incorporated some of our smaller buses in the area to pick up people on
demand. All you had to do was call 2 hours in advance and they would come get you and take you wherever you wanted to in that zone. You could transfer to the fixed route. It is a good service. Still kind of low ridership, I'm shocked, but maybe it's just,
it might just be the area. I don't know. But we are changing that to Vo Ride as well. So it will technically be a similar service, but it will be minivans like we've been running in our other micro-transit zones. So no more cutaway buses in that area. and
you'll use an app or a phone call to request your ride. You can still transfer to fixed route buses that are running in the area, free transfer. So the last, I think, well, there's one other spot. I don't know if anybody ever goes down to Ponce Inlet on the
17. So, Ponce Inlet, south of Dunlaughton, people are riding the 17, of course, but it goes all the way down to Ponce Inlet, comes back. The 17 route is very well utilized, very well utilized. We're going to keep 30-minute service on the 17, but it's going
to not go to Ponce Inlet. It's going to continue to Dunlawton and West like the other, well, like it already does now, but it's going to be 30-minute service. Ponce Inlet is going to be served differently. So we're not putting a micro-transit service in there
because there was only maybe 1,000 people a year using that area for our fixed-rout bus. So we can't put dedicated vehicles in that area with that kind of low ridership. So we're going to, we partnered with Uber, and Uber will be available for use there in
that area. So same scenario, you can call or you can use the you can use our app, actually. You're going to still use our app to book that ride. And it's just an Uber that's going to come pick you up instead of a Vo ride with you. So very similar scenario.
We're creating an app for the entire service. So it's going to be called Votran, of course. The app is going to be a Votran app. You'll be able to schedule all of your rides through that app. You can do it online if you want to, or you can continue to call
if you want to. All of those are still available. You can pay for it at that time as well, so you don't have to carry cash or a token any longer if you don't want to. Everything is going to be seamless on the app. That's kind of important because it helps
you, if you plan your whole trip on that app, you'll understand what fixed route you have to catch up with. You'll understand when the Vo ride's going to meet you and where. So it's going to be kind of important to utilize that app as much as possible if you
can. And we'll be out helping people understand how to use this app after it gets rolled out in a couple of weeks. We're getting a little ahead of it. But the last piece is our night service. So our night service runs just in one particular area in Daytona,
Ormond, in between Daytona, sorry, between Port Orange and Ormond on the mainland and on the beach side. So we're going to keep the fixed route buses on the beach side. They're going to go over the bridges on either end, so Dunlotton and Granada, and they'll
turn back around and go back. But Mainland is going to be served by Vo Ride. So the micro-transit service will be on the mainland side. It's no longer combined to just the fixed route lines. We're making a full zone in that area, so it opens up availability
for people that didn't have the fixed route line before. And so again, using the app or making a phone call, you can get your VoRide trip booked within minutes, hopefully. So what else? I see a question. Yes, ma'am.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Nancy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I know some of the people here are concerned about the route that goes between Daytona State and Conklin Davis Center and the Division of Blind Services. Do you know anything about that on White Street?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I don't think, I don't recall if there being any changes there. Okay. Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Nancy explained. Some of them are under the impression that going to go away at night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Oh, at night, yes. Yes, it is. It does go away at night, yeah. After 7 p.m. it's served by Vo ride. Okay, so it is served by Vo ride. Yeah, it is served by Vo ride.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Now, did you say that if you were a senior, it was only one dollar? Mm-hmm, right. What is it if you're not a senior?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Two dollars. Up to four miles, it's $2. Okay. Yeah. But it's not just a, I don't think, it's just seniors that get the dollar discount. I think There's some other students and things like that. There's some
other discount options for people. Brian asked. So if I were living near, say, where are the, Dunn and White, near Halifax Hospital area, and if I wanted to go someplace south of Granada, during the daytime, say the town square or something. That I would use
regular O-Trans.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Fixed route still stays the same during the day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I wanted to just not take fixed route. I wanted to get and ride with the O-Transit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Paratransit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Paratransit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah, that stays the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">And that's going to be the same. Is it going to remain the same price?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">It is $3.50, right? OK, right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Pat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Steve, you have a question? First of all, did you finish everything that you wanted to say to us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I think for the most part, I just wanted to make it like a kind of an overarching idea of what's being changed. Starts in March. So, you know, we have some time. We're going to continue the same service. and
marry up the VoRide for about a month at the same time to get people used to it. So it won't, one won't start in the other end right away. They'll be kind of going at the same time to give you guys an idea of how to use it before it stops. Okay, Steve, go
ahead with your question.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Steve<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I've got a question. On your Vo Ride and your uber or whatever it's going to be used, are they going to be Handicapped accessible, wheelchair, you know, walker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Not the Uber. I mean, I guess it could be, but we're not requiring any to. But the Vo Ride, there are handicapped accessible vehicles. There are what's called a WAVE vehicle, so wheelchair accessible vehicle.
So there'll be some of those in the fleet as well. So yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Steve<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay, yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay, Pat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Did you have a question? So I heard that we all know about AI, at least some of us do. And I wondered if AI is going to be incorporated into any of the things that Votran does. So, for instance, maybe into
reservations, are.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Pat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">They going to be doing anything like that?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So, our new software system that's going to really run the scheduling and the apps and all that kind of stuff, it does have lots of AI technology built in. It helps optimize the service. So it's looking at
all the vehicles that are available, the trip that the person has requested, what's the best option for that request, and it's deploying based on that. It's very technology-driven, resource-based optimization is basically what, and that's what helps us the
most here is switching to a new software really helps us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Pat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We also want to make sure, though, that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Pat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">People can still talk to a live...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah. And that doesn't go away. Yeah. In fact, we'll have somebody live until midnight or close to it so that the night service can be serviced with a request for a ride by calling if you don't want to use
the app. So we will have somebody there till midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay. So in the Daytona Beach area near... near City Hall or something, if you want to ride say at 8 o'clock at night, then you would us<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">You use a Vo ride.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The Vo ride.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Scott<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">You use the Vo ride, so you don't use the door-to-door, right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So it can be door-to-door. When you set up your profile, when you're setting up your app profile, you're going to select that you need a trip to come to your residence. Otherwise, it may be at the corner down
the road and you'd have to walk. So it's all customizable. So when you're setting up your name and your address and your credit card or whatever you want to do to pay, you'll also select the type of disability that you have and what you need for pickup. So
it can pick you up at your residence, drop you off as close to the front door of where you're going as possible. That is definitely an option. Yeah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay, I think one of the things that about half of our chapter at least have been getting services from what's called the Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired, on Dunn Avenue and White Street, and
a lot of us still get services from them. So, and I know Nancy and I are both on the board of directors there. And so I think it would be, I try to contact you sometime as for it to go and have somebody who is a -- somebody who is trained in using technology
and teaching people how to use their phones, iPhones and stuff, to set up some of this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby: I think that's a great idea.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid If I could take that. I had a question about that specifically, and we talked about a couple of things there. So do we have any methodology of for us to test the apps out, making sure that Android
works, VoiceOver works for iPhone and Android users.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">That's a good question.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">And some kind of, because we have the people here, and even with the Conklin Davis, CTTC, Korean Technology Center, we all have the people, but that could be an input from our constituents. And that way, we
can at least test it before we go live, and if there's anything going like haywired and we're aware. Because she brought up, Ms. Pat brought up AI as well. But it's just those little things because one is, how was the login process? Two is, can someone see
the map? Because they're not necessarily seeing the map, but they could see the minutes of, okay, Uber is coming in five minutes, three minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Do you guys use Uber now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I use Uber and Lyft.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Sometimes I do, yeah. So it's probably telling you voice-wise where it's at. It's exactly the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">But between the home app of VoTran app and then like how it transfers over to, because sometimes with a lot of these logistics, I'll give an example, United uses Uber or Lyft, but they put the Lyft within
the app of their app. They don't do the trip thing anymore. So sometimes with our app, I just want to make sure that we don't have people that are unaware. And that's why if there's any ideas of getting us on a list, then let us know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I love the idea of doing a training on it for sure. I know it's exactly what you're going to need. I'm not concerned about that, but I would like to teach you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I'll throw my name out there. I would love to reach out to me. I care about my constituency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah, it's a great idea. I love it. Next weekend, we're starting to roll out the new software. The app will be available sometime around the beginning of December. Okay. maybe December and the first couple
weeks in December, we can set something up to.Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Do a training on it. Because sometimes the blind accessible thing, people who create making things blind accessible are not always blind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">They don't know what they're doing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">And there's lots of different blindness. There's some people who have legal blindness, but still could see. And then there's some people like me who can't tell but night time or day time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">And everything has to be voiced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I got you. There's a difference among the population of visually impaired people, yeah, and it needs to be accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Is Christine?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah, that's great.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Christine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yes, a couple of things. One of them is, as far as the recertification, how long is, are we going to be having to do that? How often?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So it depends on which your certification is, if you're a TD or ADA. ADA. Okay, so I think that's annually, or is that annually?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Tangi<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">That's every three years, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">TD, okay, so TD, I know. ADA must be every three years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Christine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I know that was like every three years. Is that going to continue or is that going to change?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah, that's not our policy. That's a federal policy. So yeah, if it's three years, it'll stay three years until they change it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Christine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">And another thing, I understand that they're not going to be doing standing orders anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">So in some cases, we are not doing standing orders anymore. That's a TD rider, in case everybody's wondering. That's a transit disadvantage. disadvantaged eligible rider, not an ADA rider. So if you're transit
disadvantaged, which I hope everybody knows what that means, yeah, there's no more standing orders unless it's dialysis. And the reason for that is because that's one of those things that I mentioned right out of the gate that our contractor said, what is
going on here? We don't have, you shouldn't have any standing orders on a transit disadvantaged program. And so we were like, wow, we didn't even know that was happening, first of all. And so we had to scale that back. But we didn't want to take it away from
the dialysis patients, because that's life or death. So we let those people continue that. reoccurring trip orders, but we can't do it with anybody else in the Transit Disadvantage Program. Okay, that's it. ADA is always going to continue to have standing
orders. However, you know, there's limits to everything. I mean, I only have so much resources to put toward everything that I operate. And the whole reason behind some of the changes that we're making now is to make sure that I can continue to operate the
services that everyone needs. And so sometimes that means taking away and giving back. Sometimes it means changing something that is inefficient to something efficient. And so we're looking at all those options. It may not be liked by everybody. I'm not going
to lie. I wouldn't say that all of the changes are favorable to everyone. They are not probably, that's probably not the case. But for the most part, we're trying to make sure that they are. And the choices that we're making are actually improving service.
The Vo ride service provides you so many more options for places to go than the fixed route does. So we're excited to bring that to you, and hopefully it's easy to use. I think Brian has another question. Sure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">No.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Harshid<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">We appreciate you, Ms. King.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">You're welcome. Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Oh, my gosh, that went so fast. It's the last one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Scott<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">No, no, thank you very much. Thank you, Bobby, for coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Brian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Okay.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Christine asked, Bobby, do you have a card with your number? Yeah, in fact, I'll keep, I'll leave.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Yeah thank you thank you so I'm going to Be handing them out and about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Christine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Maybe coming back to some more of these to kind of help.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Bobby<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Continue to transition everyone to the new services that we're going to provide. Bobby G King, Director of Transit Services Division. EMAIL IS bgking@volusia.org. WEB IS votran.org. OFF ICE PHONE IS 386 257-6000
Extension is 18800. CELL PHONE IS 386 804-2616. We had 15 members and 4 guests. Scott continued the meeting with talking about the state convention in Altamonte Springs, FL. He spoke about the different things taking place like the art exhibit, the exhibit
hall, and the different work shops. The big one was legislation at National and state level.. The blind return to work act. He explained that for every two dollars earned, only one has to be paid back from social security disability DI. The way it stands now,
is if you go over $2700 . You would loose your disability. You would have to reapply. The second was web site software accessibility act, which makes things accessible on the internet. The third was medical device nonvisual accessibility act, which allows
someone to see with low vision or no vision at all. An example would be blood pressure monitor that talks and is large print. Things that can be used at home independently. The next bill is Assistive Technology Affordable Act. This gives a credit of $2000.
This allows people access to technology that otherwise would not be able to afford . The state legislation bills are the blind parent initiative is when people who are concern feel that parents that are blind not capable of taking care of their children. Which
they are capable. The second one is the bright bill. It is training for braille technology and cane training. The next bill is the wage bill. It is where some jobs are not going to be paid minimum wage. Harshid spoke about receiving the rising star award.
It met a lot to him. He met some cool vendors. It was his first time at convention. He spoke about Athens Theater Touchable Tours with audio description In Deland. He spoke about how there is entertainment that we didn’t know about. He mentioned that we were
unable to say anything in honor of Bill. It was a great convention. There were 137 people that attended. Highlights were Blind Girls Design, Florida Division technology, Magnifying America, the magnifying company, and there was Robert Doyle, who is director
of division of blind services. Scott asked if anyone had something to talk about convention. Scott said he won at the dollar auction, gift cards, a weather radio along with a $20 bill, from Miami. He also won a room for next year’s convention in Jacksonville.
Tangi said she won a door prize of $80 and a gift card from Publix for $25 and a bracelet. Steve spoke about going to the President’s meeting and how it works in voting with members. He was fascinated. Nancy attended a Treasurer meeting. They are starting
to make a full month before reporting it for the chapter record. So, we won’t have a report for this month. We are only three weeks into the month. Brian sent out the minutes for September. The members accepted it. Christine motion to accept the minutes. Joesph
second the motion. Steve brought up the fund raising committee. He asked members about the different things that we can do. Some examples are car washes, selling candy bars and doing gift cards for certain amounts. Restaurant fund raising events, like we had
with DB Pickles. If anyone has any ideas that they want to share please get with Steve or Nancy. These are things that help to support us having people go to convention. We are going to start having zoom calls again for fund raising. Pat mentioned Pop City
Popcorn gives fifty percent of what ever is sold. They have a good selection of different things like soft pretzels, cotton candy, cookies, and pop corn. A motion was made to come back to next meeting to talk about doing pop city pop corn. A motion was
made by Cliff. Sherry second the motion. it. Kim brought up that she had low vision and she doesn’t need to use a screen reader or yet. The web site wasn’t easy to see. There is a phone number Pat will get with Tangi and it will be put into the minutes at
the next month’s meeting. Christine is going to look into different restaurants for the next year. Hooligans in Port Orange and in Ormond Beach are a few along with some others. Lois Pizza House in Daytona Beach. Christine announced that the next meeting
will be on November 22, 2025. Joesph Young will hold the next meeting. We have a couple of birthdays. Lacey and T -Ray. The Christmas party will be on December 6, 2025 at Carrabba’s. The address is 2200 West International Speedway Blvd. Daytona Beach. The
time is from1PM. To 4 PM. Harshid wanted to tell everyone that he got his license for Ham Radio. He would like if anyone needs help or information on being a ham radio handler. Get a hold of him and he will help you with test information. Scott adjourned the
meeting. Christine second it. The meeting ended at 2:15PM. Frank won the fifty-fifty $10.
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