What's happening
This bill updates the elder law to establish and fund a five-year pilot program providing on-demand transportation for seniors in select New York counties.
Why it matters
Targets rural and smaller counties. By limiting eligibility to counties with fewer than 300,000 people (or pairs of small, neighboring counties), the pilot focuses on areas where seniors often have fewer transportation options, addressing rural isolation and gaps in public transit.
Prioritizes operational accountability. Providers must submit detailed annual reports documenting participation, barriers, steps taken for sustainability, and ideas for expansion—this increases transparency and allows for data-driven decisions about the program’s future.
Limits state funding to five years. After the pilot period, participating transportation services must demonstrate their ability to operate independently, encouraging innovation and cost-effectiveness while reducing long-term reliance on public funds.
Emphasizes flexible, senior-friendly service. The language underscores “on-demand” rides during normal business hours, using both paid and volunteer drivers, making the program more adaptable to seniors’ needs than fixed-route transit.
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Fund Senior Transit Pilot
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History
- Referred to aging
- Referred to aging
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6896
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 25, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Aging
AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to an economically sustainable transportation demonstration program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 6 of section 223 of the elder law, as added by section 3 of part J of chapter 57 of the laws of 2006, are amended to read as follows:
2. The director shall establish the economically sustainable transportation demonstration program for the purpose of enabling seniors to remain independent and mobile in their community. The program would provide an on demand transit service for seniors [that would use] establishing, at a minimum, operational hours during normal business hours using automobiles driven by volunteer and paid drivers to transport seniors to where they need and want to go. [After a period of five years, the program would no longer be eligible for state funding and would be completely self-sustaining, relying on consumer fares and voluntary community support to remain operational.]
6. [Within amounts appropriated, the] The director shall establish a pilot program within amounts appropriated therefor, in up to five counties, each with not more than three hundred thousand persons as of the two thousand ten United States census, or a collaborative project of two contiguous counties that each do not have more than three hundred thousand persons as of the two thousand ten United States census. The director shall make grants available to qualified economically sustainable transportation providers of no less than fifty-five thousand dollars per grantee [in the first year of the operation of the program]. Each provider shall be required to submit a report to the director within one year of the implementation of such pilot program which shall include, but not be limited to, documentation of participation rates, any imped-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07690-02-9
A. 6896 2
iments to implementation encountered, steps taken to ensure sustainability of the program and proposals for expansion to other service areas. Such providers shall be eligible to receive funding under this section annually for up to five years. After such time, providers must be able to provide economically sustainable transportation services without receiving further public financial assistance for operating or capital expenses.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.