YCAT suspends red, blue bus routes

People accustomed to riding the red and blue bus routes to work and school waited in vain for the YCAT bus to arrive Wednesday morning.

Effective that morning, the two bus routes that served city of Yuma residents were suspended as part of the adjustment to the Yuma-area's public transit system after the Yuma City Council voted in August not to fund the system.

“It's sad,” said Edd McDaniel, mobility manager and contract administrator for the public transit system, Wednesday. “I feel so badly about the people on the red route. So many people there really depended on the system. They're really hurting.”

He said that crews Wednesday were in the process of posting notices on the bus stops along the blue and red routes to inform riders that the routes had been suspended and the buses wouldn't be coming.

Service will continue for Yuma County, the Cocopah Tribe, Wellton, Somerton and San Luis, Ariz., because those entities are still funding the system. That service includes connections to major destinations within the city of Yuma such as medical facilities, high schools, Arizona Western College, Yuma Palms Regional Center and the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

The green route has been realigned to provide service to a portion of Yuma. For example, it has three stops along Avenue B at 16, 8th and 4th streets, then the bus heads east along 3rd Street to Yuma City Hall, Redondo Center Drive to the Social Security and DES offices and on to Yuma Palms.

The orange route also has been altered to reduce the number of Wellton trips to three a day, but adding more trips in the Foothills and to AWC.

The changes in the routes also impact Dial-A-Ride.

Federal Transit Authority guidelines require that a public transit system provide Dial-A-Ride services to people who live within three-quarters of a mile any direction from a fixed bus route, McDaniel explained.

With the elimination of the red and blue routes, many who relied on Dial-A-Ride no longer will be eligible for that transportation service, he said.

However, Yuma city residents who live near the orange, green and yellow routes will still be eligible for Dial-A-Ride services.

McDaniel said there was some confusion when people called Wednesday for Dial-A-Ride reservations about whether they were still eligible for the service. That's because along with the changes in the routes, a new contractor took over the operation of YCAT and Dial-A-Ride Wednesday morning and staff were scrambling to sort out the new Dial-A-Ride eligible areas.

“We ask people to be patient while the system is in transition,” McDaniel said.

In the meantime, he said, an effort is being made to get people on dialysis to their medical appointments no matter where they live.

McDaniel noted that many of the drivers who worked for the previous contractor have been hired by First Transit and were behind the wheel of YCAT and Dial-A-Ride buses Wednesday morning as usual so they know the routes and stops and regular customers.