[NFBO-Linn-benton] article in the GT a couple weekends ago

[KJocums at iCloud.com]

Hi All,

 

Also, here is an article sent to the GT by Yigal, a  volunteer driver for
DAB:

Don't Let Benton County Destroy Dial-A-Bus

For nearly 50 years, Dial-A-Bus has quietly done what government often

struggles to do: get seniors and people with disabilities where they need to

go, safely and with dignity. During the pandemic, Dial-A-Bus drivers
shuttled

people for vaccinations at Reser Stadium and brought groceries to

homebound clients so critical appointments were not missed, all at no

charge. Even as this nonprofit stepped up for our community, Benton County

was laying the groundwork to push it aside.

In recent years, the county has steadily undermined Dial-A-Bus, not by

openly making its case, but through policy changes, red tape, and expensive

missteps that make the nonprofit's work harder and its service worse. Benton

Area Transit (BAT) was created, and Dial-A-Bus was relegated to a

subcontractor. Longtime clients in places like North Albany, who once could

be driven across the bridge for medical appointments or shopping, suddenly

found themselves cut off when trips outside county borders were banned.

The county then took over rider applications and imposed a new five-page

form, even on existing clients. The process is confusing and intrusive,

demanding detailed medical information and doctor document releases.

Clients must reapply every two years, as if they might somehow become

younger or healthier. Those who do qualify can find themselves doubled or

tripled up on rides, missing appointments or being turned away because of

scheduling limits. Many now deeply mistrust the County.

Meanwhile, the county has spent public money in ways that do little to help

riders. All county buses and vans were repainted in new BAT colors and

logos, an expensive exercise that confused many Dial-A-Bus clients,

particularly those who are developmentally disabled.      In 2023, the

county imposed a routing software system, VIA, on Dial-A-Bus at a cost of

about $150,000, claiming it would improve efficiency. It did the opposite.

Within two weeks, Dial-A-Bus dispatchers were seeing clients miss dialysis,

chemotherapy, and food bank visits. They reverted to pen-and-paper

scheduling to keep people from falling through the cracks, while the county

took months to admit the software was a failure, yet taxpayers still foot
the

bill.

Now Benton County is exploring taking transit operations in-house. It hired

outside consultants to justify bringing what Dial-A-Bus does under county

control. The county has no demonstrated expertise running a service like
this

and would have to take on the cost of hiring and training staff, paying

benefits, and managing all the complexity that Dial-A-Bus already handles.
If

the new funding streams driving this push dry up, the county will be left

holding the bag, and riders will pay the price.

Just as troubling is how much of this has happened out of public view. The

Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) was designed to direct

money to those who need it most and created local advisory committees to

provide oversight. Yet Public Works did not convene the STIF committee at
all

during 2025, despite legal requirements. When the committee finally met on

March 2 of this year, more than 50 Dial-A-Bus clients and stakeholders

showed up to oppose the county takeover, and the committee voted to stop

work on the in-house proposal. That message should be impossible to ignore.

Benton County commissioners have been in this position before. On Coffin

Butte, they finally listened to their constituents and reversed course. They

should do the same here: reject the plan to take over Dial-A-Bus, insist on
full

transparency around STIF funds, and direct the necessary resources to the

nonprofit that has proven, for decades, that it can deliver. Dial-A-Bus has

earned the community's trust. The county has not.

Kristen Jocums

(706)718-8055

 

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