Letter from the

Executive DirectorAs Community Transit, a not for profit

charitable organization, celebrates a 28 yearjourney of increasing the mobility andindependence of senior citizens, and personswith disabilities in Delaware County, I’d like totake a look back to see how far we have traveled.

Community Transit began in 1983 as the Delaware CountyTransportation Consortium when the county coordinated thetransportation needs of a dozen human service agencies. Service wasinitiated in April 1983 with a fleet of 18 aged vehicles and 25 employees.

Today, Community Transit has grown to nearly 130 employees and afleet of 90 vehicles providing 2,167 trips every weekday. We have gonefrom hand typing driver’s schedules to a state-of-the-art computer networkthat enables us to streamline our services. Our new telephone systemenables customer service representatives to respond quickly to your call, aswell as to call you the evening before your scheduled trip. Our drivers arecarefully screened and receive intensive training to prepare them to provideyou with safe transportation.

As we move forward on this journey, we are constantly exploring newtechnologies to help improve our service as well as to run more efficiently.Our most important goal is to always exceed your expectations and tomake your experience with us even better.

In 1983 Community Transit provided 124,708 trips. In 2010,Community Transit provided 425,477 trips. While we face obstaclessuch as rising fuel and insurance costs, we are more focused than everon being the premier paratransit company in the county. We inviteyou to come along for the ride!

Sincerely,

David M. TroutExecutive Director

W e’re on the Way!(610) 490-3960 • www.ctdelco.org

Driver Spotlight on

Cheryl AllenCheryl Allen is

certainly a familiarface to many ofour riders, havingdriven forCommunityTransit since 2006.Along the way shehas picked upquite a few

commendations, receiving many kindwords of praise from customers and adultday care directors for her compassion,professionalism and concern for herpassengers.

A desk job? No thanks! Cheryl says thatone of the best things about driving forCommunity Transit is being out on theroad, meeting interesting people every day.She loves her passengers and treats themlike she would treat her grandmother orgrandfather.

“When a new passenger rides for thefirst time, they can be nervous, notknowing what to expect, so I do my best toput them at ease. My regular passengerswarmly welcome them aboard, telling themthat they are riding the fun bus!”

Cheryl is a resident of Delaware and inher free time enjoys spending as much timeas she can with her eight grandchildren,ages five months to 13 years.

We are very fortunate to have Cherylon our staff, taking such wonderful care ofour customers!

New Technology Improving Customer ServiceWe are determined to make calling Community Transit a quick, easy

and convenient experience for our customers. Thanks to several fundinggrants, we were finally able to retire our outdated, inadequate telephonesystem and install a state of the art system. The new system is giving easierand quicker access to Community Transit, making it easier to get a live,friendly voice on the phone. Calls are also monitored for quality assurance,ensuring that customers are receiving the most accurate information andhave a pleasant overall experience.

We have also implemented an automated outcall system. This systemcalls all passengers to remind them of the first trip that they scheduled forthe next day. We also encourage passengers to call to cancel their trip if theydo not plan to travel to make operations more efficient and cost effective.(What is the actual cost of having a no-show? See article on right.)

If you wish to cancel a trip you can call (610) 490-3960 anytime – 24 hours a day. A voice mail system will take your message when our officeis closed. If you call before 8:00 a.m., a dispatcher will be glad to take your call.

As we look toward 2012, we are looking at all sorts of technology tomake our service even better and more efficient.

‘No-Shows’ Impact

CT RevenueCommunity Transit is a mission-based,

non-profit company, committed toproviding the best service possible to asmany people as possible. We strive torespond to your demands in a way that willserve you without limiting service to others.In an effort to continue to improve ourservice, we are asking you to remember theimportance of notifying us as early aspossible when you cannot take a scheduledtrip.

We schedule our drivers in a mannerthat will most effectively and efficientlyrespond to as many trip requests as possible.Since we provide over 1,200 trips a day,every minute counts! When we respond toyour request for transportation and thenfind that the service is refused, we lose thoseefficiencies. In addition, someone else mayhave gone without service so that we couldhonor your request.

Did you know that between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010there were 10,498 no-show trips whichcost Community Transit $311,226.28 inlost revenue? That also adds up to 55,954in average miles traveled when our driversmade it all the way to a no-show passenger'sdoor. This is the equivalent of driving thecircumference of the world more than twotimes! This also adds up to 6,994 gallons offuel that could have been saved, and attoday's cost of $3.55 a gallon of fuel, thatwould be a savings of $24,829.

We remind you that in the event thatyou cannot take your scheduled ride, youmust call us at 610-490-3977 and notify usat least two (2) hours prior to yourscheduled pick-up. Failure to do so willresult in a “no-show” status placed on yourride. If a passenger receives three (3) ormore “no-shows” in the period of onemonth, riding privileges will be suspendedfor a period of 30 days.

Rider Comments: What made you smile today?Each day customers of Community Transit are given reasons to smile

– a friendly driver, an easy reservation process and reliable, convenientdoor-to-door service. Community Transit invites you to share yourexperiences. Share with our readers a story about your trip, a pleasantshopping experience or the comfort of knowing you were able to get toyour next doctor’s appointment. We would also love to hear yourcomments about this newsletter. Do you find it useful? Are there othertopics that you would like to read about?

Email us at generaladmin@ctdelco.org or write to us at 206 EddystoneAvenue, Suite 200, Eddystone, PA 19022-1594.

Community Transit's Operations Department; from back row, left to right: George Furrer,Operations Supervisor; Sandee Hladick, Kelly Garrett, and Lorraine Miller.Front row, left to right: Gloria Boyce, Kristen Shaffer, and Joy Corley.

Newsline

How the Pennsylvania Lottery

Benefits Senior CitizensThe Pennsylvania State Lottery is the ONLY state lottery in the

nation still committed to solely benefiting older residents, targeting allof its proceeds to programs for older residents. In fiscal year 2009-

2010, the Lottery had sales of $3.72billion and contributions to programsfor older Pennsylvanians totaled morethan $918.4 million.

Since 1972, when its first gamewent on sale, the Pennsylvania Lotteryhas contributed more than $19.2billion to a wide variety of programs,including:

• Property Tax/Rent Rebate, administered by the Department of Revenue.

• Free Mass Transit/Discounted Shared Ride Program for olderresidents, administered by the Department of Transportation.

• PACE, PACENET and now PACE Plus Medicare, administered bythe Department of Aging. These constitute the nation’s mostcomprehensive prescription program for older adults.

• Long-Term Care Services administered by the Department of Public Welfare.

• The 52 Area Agencies on Aging throughout the Commonwealth,(locally, this is COSA) comprising more than 600 full- and part-timesenior community centers.

The PA Lottery subsidizes free transit for Senior Citizens, 65 andolder. They are able to ride free on SEPTA’s buses, subways and trolleysAT ALL TIMES. Senior citizens must simply present a CommonwealthI.D. Card or a Medicare Card upon boarding the vehicle.

Locally, Community Transit of Delaware County provides curb-to-curb transportation at a reduced rate to Delaware County residents age65 and older, thanks to the PA Lottery. A trip that would cost $24.75each way only costs $3.75 each way out of pocket for senior citizens.Community Transit enables Delaware County residents to beindependent, providing transportation to approximately 745 DelawareCounty residents daily who would otherwise be immobile. Across theCommonwealth, 59 Shared-Ride Program providers, just likeCommunity Transit, serve all 67 counties and provide 5.3 millionreduced fare trips annually. For more information, please contactCommunity Transit at 610-490-3977 or visit www.ctdelco.org.

Without the PA Lottery’s subsidies, Community Transit would notbe in existence, or at the very least, would not be an affordable means oftransportation for very many residents.

As Gus, the second-most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania wouldsay, “keep on scratchin’”!

Frequently Asked

Questions

When can I expect the vehicleto arrive?

For an example, if you have an 11:00 a.m. doctor’s appointment, we willgenerally schedule a pick-up time of10:00 a.m. Our goal is to get you to yourappointment on time, so we ask that yoube ready to be picked up by 9:45 a.m.and your vehicle will arrive sometimebetween 9:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.,allowing enough travel time to deliveryou to your appointment on schedule.(We might schedule the pick-up time abit earlier if the distance to yourappointment is very long, as is sometimesthe case for people going to specialtydoctors at distant hospitals inPhiladelphia.) This “window” assures thatwe can deliver you to your appointmenton time and that we can schedule otherpeople who may live nearby and/or aregoing in the same direction as you to bepicked up in that window as well.

I have a doctor’sappointment, but don’t knowwhat time I’ll be finished.How do I arrange for my trip home?

Community Transit schedulers willschedule your ride as a “will call for pickup.” Simply ask your physician’sreceptionist to contact CommunityTransit Dispatch via the “Doctor’s Only”phone number, when you are ready.Please understand that it will take a littlebit of time to get a driver to you. AllCommunity Transit drivers are equippedwith radios, so we will contact anavailable driver who is nearest to you topick you up.

PENNSYLVANIA

L O T T E R Y

Newsline

How to reach Community Transit

Administrative Office8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Monday through Friday(610) 490-3977

TTY: (610) 490-3990

Shared Ride & PwD Programs Information & Reservations

7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.Monday through Friday

(610) 490-3960

Visit our website at:www.ctdelco.org

Telephone interpretation serviceis available for nearly 150

different languages!

Community Transit is a private,non-profit organization whose missionhas been to increase the mobility and

independence of the senior, disabled and other qualified residents of Delaware County

since 1983.

206 Eddystone Avenue, Suite 200Eddystone, PA 19022-1594

NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDEddystone, PA

Board of DirectorsCecile Charlton, ChairmanMichael J. Moretti, Vice ChairmanMichael J. McCrea, Secretary/TreasurerGregory HumeEileen JosephMichelle S. LewisJohn Nawn, P.E., PTOE, F.ACFEIJohn SammartinoWilliam R. TaylorSusan C.YoungStaffDavid M. Trout, CPAExecutive DirectorLisa S SoltnerChief Operating Officer Marjorie K. BabiakChief Financial OfficerO. Floyd CorbinDirector of Human ResourcesThomas GiancristoforoDirector of Risk ManagementWendy E. PetkusDirector of Business Development

CLIP & SAVE

Customer Tips You Can UseBy keeping the following tips in mind, you can make reservations

quickly and accurately. Keep this list on your refrigerator or by yourphone so that it is handy.

• If you are scheduling a medical appointment, please have thefollowing information ready: the appointment time, doctor’s name,address and office phone number, the entrance you wish us to dropyou off at.

• Moved? Please contact us with your new address and phonenumber!

• Call as soon as you need a ride. This is especially helpful for tripson our shuttle to Philadelphia, since seating can be limited.

• Making changes to your trip? It is very important to call ourcustomer service department at (610) 490-3960 to make anychanges, such as trip time, trip date, address, or even cancellationbefore the day of the trip.

Please do not arrange changes with your driver or your seniorcenter, because the information must be entered into our schedulingsystem.