TACT PwD Program Providing Rides to Work

by Nathan Lasher

During a public meeting held Tuesday afternoon, Members of Town And Country Transit’s Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Committee expressed that many local consumers of the PwD service have been able to attain employment recently due to the availability of transportation.

“We just had Bret [Kingsley] from the Progressive Workshop come in today and thank us because he’s found nine people jobs that weren’t able to drive,” said TACT Operations Manager Gerry Miller. “We’ve had nine people now, just through him, that he has placed because we’re able to provide them with the transportation to get them to work”

TACT Comptroller Patti Baker added recent news that she had heard as well.

“I ran into some people from the Progressive Workshop, and they were saying that one person that we transport up to the hospital for employment, she had been working at the Workshop for several days a week, but because she enjoys her job so much up at the hospital she is no longer working for the Workshop,” said Baker. “She’s now, actually, able to work full-time at the hospital. So, she’s actually doing what the Workshop’s intention is to actually go out into the workforce and obtain sustainable employment. They were really pleased with that, and they said without this program they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

According to Kingsley, thanks to the PwD program, he has been able to place two people in jobs at ACMH as well as others in businesses located in the areas of Rural Valley, Elderton, Sarver, and Kittanning.

“When transportation is not available for people it certainly limits how they gain employment because they can’t go too far,” said Kingsley. “It limits your capability of getting a job. I think everybody recognizes that, and so the more open you are to being able to travel one mile from your house, ten miles from your house, or thirty miles from your house opens up more employment possibilities. This has happened with Progressive now that they have this program and they don’t have to pay the full fare; I think they’re at 15% rather than the full fare. Of course, that has allowed people to gain employment and have TACT provide the transportation for them back and forth to work. So, yes we’ve used it quite regularly to do that.”

Persons with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64 who need accessible public transit in a participating county beyond ADA complementary paratransit services can find information to apply for TACT’s PwD program in the “PwD Information” section of www.tandctransit.com. They may also find information by calling 724-548-8696 or 1-800-245-8588.

Print

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.