By MADDY VITALE
Cape May County’s Fare-Free Transportation provides rides to seniors, the disabled, veterans and low-income residents who need to get to appointments, shopping and other places.
But it is a free service that is underutilized, explained Dan Mulraney, director of Cape May County Fare-Free Transportation.
Mulraney thinks one of the main reasons that ridership is not as strong as it could be is the fact that people must call three days in advance to reserve their spots on the van.
“We do a lot of good things, but I think we can provide more service and better service,” he said. “Over the course of several years we have seen a decline in ridership. Part of that is making people wait for the trips. Maybe, there is a better way to do it.”
So, Fare-Free Transportation officials came up with a pilot program for Ocean City residents to boost ridership. From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, beginning possibly as early as March, riders will be picked up and dropped off at different locations in the resort.
Instead of waiting three days to set up the ride times, passengers will only need to use an app being created for the pilot program, Mulraney said.
“In a world of instant gratification, if you could use a Fare-Free app sort of like an Uber — why not?”
Currently, Mulraney said Fare-Free provides an average of 110,000 trips per year for riders throughout the county. Of that number, 1,200 trips every three months are by Ocean City residents.
“We would like to surpass that number as we move into this project,” Mulraney said of Ocean City ridership. “We are very excited.”
He noted that Ocean City is an area underserved by Fare-Free.
Another reason to do a test-run in Ocean City is that there is a sizable offseason population to serve.
“It is a good place to start our app out and slowly build it with the seasons,” Mulraney explained. “It is a population that can use it. We will start an Uber-like service with Fare-Free so someone could send a text message to be picked up. If it goes well in Ocean City, then we will implement it throughout the different municipalities.”
He emphasized, “If you live here, you can ride. We have thousands of registered clients, but we drive 500 one-way trips a day on average.”
Mulraney noted that there are people out there who believe that an app would not be utilized by seniors.
“People say seniors are not tech-savvy, but our seniors are good and I don’t think we will have a problem. But if we do, all people who take phone calls from Fare-Free now will still be available, so people could just call up,” he said.
Fare-Free was created in Cape May County 46 years ago. Over the years it has expanded to include all Cape May County residents as a way to spur the economy by giving people rides to work from the mainland to the barrier islands.
Kathi Dwyer, media liaison for Ocean City’s AARP Chapter 1062, said she is excited about the pilot program for Ocean City and interested in seeing how well it works for her and other AARP members.
“I am going to try it and take it down to the Acme,” Dwyer said. “Some of our members who don’t drive are using it now, but I don’t believe it is that many.”
She added that she will alert AARP members that the service will be available in Ocean City.
Dwyer said, however, she is not too optimistic that the seniors will use the app.
“Many of our seniors don’t use smart phones, but as long as they could call up for rides, then I think many of them would use it.”
Cape May County Freeholder E. Marie Hayes, of Ocean City, who oversees transportation, is closely involved with the county’s Fare-Free Transportation program.
She spoke about the program at a Jan. 27 meeting of the Southern New Jersey Freeholders’ Association at the historic Flanders Hotel.
Hayes called Fare-Free drivers “the ambassadors of the county.”
“Some of the riders never see anybody else. Their driver takes them for meals and doctor’s appointments. I have so much respect for that department.”
Hayes said she is committed to working to make Fare-Free more accessible to more residents in Cape May County and is looking forward to the success of the pilot program in Ocean City.
For more information call Cape May County Fare-Free Transportation at (609) 889-3700.
