MONTGOMERY: Township outsourcing senior bus service to county

By Kristine Snodgrass,Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — The Township Committee has decided to move forward with plans to contract its bus services for senior citizens to Somerset County.
   Township Recreation Director Karen Zimmerman said Monday that with the committee’s approval, voted last Thursday, she can now contact Somerset County Transportation to work out the details of the arrangement, which she said will be enacted in the coming months.
   The committee first discussed the proposal at its meeting last month, as part of its ongoing effort to reduce municipal costs through shared service agreements with the county.
   Township Administrator Donato Nieman estimated then that the transfer would save the township at least $40,000 a year in salaries, bus purchase and maintenance, and fuel costs, even after it pays the county about $60,000 a year for the service.
   Under the current system operated by the township, senior citizens are picked up at their homes in the morning and transported to the Otto Kaufman Senior Center in Skillman, where they have lunch and participate in activities through a program run by the county Office on Aging.
   About 100 senior citizens take advantage of the service per week, Ms. Zimmerman said.
   Seniors are also currently provided transportation two days a week to go to medical appointments, and once a week to go to the grocery store.
   The services offered to seniors will be improved under the county’s operation, Ms. Zimmerman said. Instead of two days per week, seniors will be provided transportation for shopping and medical appointments Monday through Friday, she said.
   ”We weren’t able to offer that kind of service,” she said.
   The seniors will be instructed to call a number at the county to arrange the service the night before the requested ride, rather than in the morning as under the current system, she said.
   Mounting expenses have been driven by problems with the wheelchair lift on one of the buses, Ms. Zimmerman said. The bus is also about seven years old and would soon need replaced at a cost of about $70,000, she said.
   The township currently employs two bus drivers, one full time and one part time, she said, and owns two buses and one van for the service.