ERMA – Increasing mobility at no up-front cost is more relevant than ever in the 21st century.
People around the nation are turning to alternate forms of transportation for a variety of reasons, and Cape May County’s Fare Free Transportation system continues to provide a much-needed service.
According to Director Daniel J. Mulraney, Fare Free Transportation was begun in 1973 “by a small group of private citizens who purchased a surplus military bus and used their limited funding to provide senior citizens with transportation from Villas to Rio Grande for shopping trips.”
“Those trips continued until, as Freeholder Director (Gerald) Jerry Thornton recalls, the wheels fell off of the bus somewhere on Bayshore Road.”
Mulraney told the Herald Sept. 19 “The Board of Chosen Freeholders took over the senior transport business and has been doing it ever since.”
“Fare Free Transportation is the only transit agency in the state that holds a national safety and security accreditation,” Mulraney commented in a prepared statement. “Fare Free also holds the recognition as the Transit Agency of the Year as awarded by the Council on Special Transportation.”
Who are the faces behind the demographics of those who utilize Fare Free?
“The service is mostly used by senior citizens and disabled residents, but anyone who lives in the county is able to take advantage of this service free of charge,” Mulraney answered. “We (Fare Free) provide approximately 120,000 trips per year.”
Fare Free Transportation also provides human contact: for those who are not able to venture out on their own, the drivers provide a “means of socialization,” as expressed in a previous Herald article, by making new acquaintances and developing relationships.
Mulraney stated, “We (Fare Free) constantly receive praise and thanks for our service because if we did not provide these trips, many of our residents would not be able to leave the house, go shopping, see a doctor, etc. This is an invaluable service.”
Challenges also face the transport system, especially in the area of qualified drivers.
How is Fare Free meeting this challenge and also bringing jobs to Cape May County?
According to Mulraney, “Most people have difficulty securing a CDL (commercial driver’s license) with a passenger endorsement and air brakes. Sometime in the spring of 2016, we met with the freeholders and the Department of Labor’s Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Talent Network (RHTTN). The RHTTN was looking for a program to support the tourism industry and we were looking for drivers.”
“Then the Cape May (County) Technical High School stepped in and said that they were looking for additional nighttime adult classes to add to their schedule. We came up with a program to solve all three problems. We started a nighttime CDL training course at the Tech School and then used the graduates as interns with Fare Free to start a work shuttle program in the summer which would transport seasonal workers from the mainland to the barrier islands for work.”
As a result, the project provided drivers, gave RHTTN its tourism program, and offered the Tech School a night course for adults. Interns were provided positions as “permanent part-time drivers.”
“This program helped citizens obtain vocational training, helped drivers get hired and helped citizens get jobs on the barrier islands that they would not have gotten if not for our shuttle program,” Mulraney said.
“Overall, the program was successful as a pilot, and we see growth opportunity should the program continue cyclically each year.”
To contact Rachel Rogish, email rrogish@cmcherald.com.
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