The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 4, No. 51 - December 18, 2014 Inside This Issue Business Briefs...................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................10 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Food.......................................5 Legals....................................9 Politically Speaking............7 Real Estate.........................12 Sports....................................6 TerriAnn in Torrance..........8 Women at Work..................3 Weekend Forecast Torrance Memorial Raises Over $4 Million at Festival and Gala Fashion Show co-chairs Nina Tarnay, Linda Perry, Nadine Bobit, and Kelli Piken pose with pups at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s 31st annual Holiday Festival, which raised in total more than $4.2 million, including sponsorships and major gift donations. For more photos see page 2. Photo by Diedre Davidson. Friday Mostly Sunny 62˚/52˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 62˚/52˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 68˚/54˚ City Approves Swipe Card System for Torrance Community Transit Program By Cristian Vasquez In a unanimous 7-0 vote the Torrance City Council approved the implementation of a swipe card system for the Torrance Community Transit Program during the Dec. 9 council meeting. Under the recommendation of the Transit Director the council agreed to approve an agreement with Cabconnect in order to buy and implement a swipe card system for the Torrance Community Transit Program. The agreement is not to exceed $56,310 for the time period between Dec. 9-Dec. 31, 2015. “Torrance Transit is implementing this card system in order to provide a better means for our citizens to pay their fair with the cab companies,” Transit Director Kim Turner said. “Instead if using the paper tickets it allows them to use the swipe card. They can swipe it for the one ticket for a round fair and they can swipe it again for the additional funds if need be.” Funds for the project will be made available via the Transit Department’s Fiscal Year 2015 Operating Budget. Back in 2003 the city consolidated its Senior and Dial-A-Taxi program under the Torrance Community Transit Program [TCTP], which was adopted to replace the Dial-A-Lift Program. The current all-taxi service provided allows for “greater flexibility and independence in meeting transportation alternative needs of the city’s senior residents and residents with disabilities” states the staff report. Prior to the swipe card agreement, riders were issued paper vouchers valued at $13 at a cost of $1 to the person using the service. The subsidized service would allow for a taxi ride without the need of paying cash at the moment of the service. However, if the fare was greater than $13 the rider had the option of using a separate voucher to pay for the additional cost, or cover the excess fee out-of-pocket. “The customer will have the option so some may actually save money by using that extra voucher because they will actually only pay one dollar for it [extra service],” Administrative Analyst Ashley Koger said. “So in some cases it might benefit them [rider] but in others they might lose money so we give them that option and make the program flexible for them in that way.” With a swipe card system the process of using the services is expected to become easier for riders and city transit authorities. “Our plan for the implementation process is as seniors and disabled users are introduced to the swipe card system, we will maintain the current practice of [paying] via checks by mail and then we will extend to a web system once everything is in place and once everyone is accustomed to the new swipe card system,” Koger said. “We did not want to inundate them [riders] with an entirely new process; they are sued to mailing in checks so we wanted to keep that consistent for them. Sometimes seniors and the disabled are not 100 percent sure and reliable with the technology so we wanted to make it available to them to pay via check.” Once fully implemented each rider will have a swipe card, which will include an ID number and a picture of the owner for identification. The new system will allow staff to quickly load the card so that the rider can use it immediately. Currently seniors and disabled residents have to wait between seven and 10 days for their vouchers to be delivered via mail. One resident, Mark Stephenson, expressed his concern over the amount tax dollars being used to subsidize this transportation program. However, everyone who spoke from the city agreed that the transition was beneficial. “We listened to this program from June Mills for a few months and we do approve this program,” Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino with the Torrance Commission on Aging said. “It was very well explained and we do believe that it will be a benefit to our seniors so that they don’t have to deal with paper tickets. It is going to help the transit department; it is going to help the city in saving money when the cards are reloaded. I think it is a good program and we approved of it.” “It allows for better record keeping for us and it enables use to get a better account of the usage of our passengers and we are more ale to count them as well for our reports,” Turner said. •
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