Chelsea Senior Center working to bring Lyft & Uber to Manchester
Living in a community with limited or no public transportation can be a major issue for seniors who do not drive. Manchester does have the senior bus managed by the Manchester Area Senior Citizens Council, which for a fee drives seniors to appointments. But what if the MASCC bus is not an option because of a scheduling conflict or the senior can’t afford the fee? While the Community Resource Center is currently working on a voucher solution to help those who can’t afford the cost of a ride, the Chelsea Senior Center is also working on a solution for the times the MASCC bus is not an option.
In fact, the Chelsea Senior Center is working to provide more senior transportation options not just for Manchester and Chelsea, but also for Grass Lake, Dexter, and Stockbridge with a new transportation program, R.O.A.M., an acronym for “rural older adults in motion.” Last fall the Chelsea Senior Center was awarded two grants totaling $150,000 through the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s Vital Seniors Competition to help with this new program.
Gary Munce, president of the Chelsea Senior Center Board of Directors, explained that everyone should have access to what is available whether it is medical, shopping, social, or religious. He stated, “It is unfortunate that anyone doesn’t have access to something because they can’t get there.”
Although the Chelsea Senior Center has been connecting seniors who need help with transportation to the W.A.V.E. (a bus serving Chelsea and Dexter) and volunteer drivers for the last five years, the grants are helping them expand in two important ways. First, by expanding to help seniors in surrounding communities; and, second, by adding ride share services like Lyft and Uber and streamlining the ride share process for the seniors so they do not need to interact with the app or pay the drivers directly.
Eventually, Manchester seniors who need a ride will be able to call the Chelsea Senior Center at (734) 475-9242 during business hours (between 9 am and 4 pm Monday through Friday) and explain their specific transportation need. There will be no fee for the Chelsea Senior Center’s help, but there will be a fee for the ride–which will vary depending upon the service used. The Senior Center will first see if referring them to existing services like W.A.V.E. in Chelsea or the MASCC bus in Manchester will meet the need. If it doesn’t, they will schedule a ride for them through a ride share service like Uber or Lyft. The senior does not need to do anything else, including pay the driver, and will instead be invoiced afterwards for the ride by the senior center. As a last resort, if the situation is critical or the senior is unable to pay, the senior center will locate a volunteer to provide the ride.
Right now, Uber and Lyft are not usually available as options in Manchester and Munce reports that Chelsea seems to currently be the edge of the service area out of Ann Arbor. The Chelsea Senior Center is working to recruit local residents to become Uber and Lyft drivers. They explained that in addition to having drivers willing to give rides in our area, having local drivers would mean that the drivers would be more familiar with the area and that it would be “more comfortable” for riders. In exchange, the Chelsea Senior Center would be providing a steady stream of ride requests and providing an opportunity for employment for local residents.
With rideshare services, rides can be requested immediately or can be scheduled in advance. Manchester resident Amy Pyle has worked as a Lyft driver for more than a year. In that time she’s only had three rides from Manchester and one from Chelsea. All were scheduled at least a day in advance. She explained she has never gotten a ride request while actively driving for Lyft and in Manchester. She drives in Ann Arbor because in Ann Arbor she can get back-to-back requests. “The key to making money with this business is to keep taking rides. Too much down time between rides, can just ruin your day.”
Although R.O.A.M. is designed specifically for seniors, it is possible that the Senior Center’s efforts to recruit drivers may make ride share services available for everyone in the community. Pyle explained, “There is a thought in the rideshare universe that [having drivers in the area and ride requests] do work together symbiotically. It’s a community and any buzz to bring drivers on board creates buzz for rides too.” Pyle stated she would love to give more rides in Manchester.
Laura Seyfried, director of the Community Resource Center, explained that there is a definite need in Manchester and that they do field calls from seniors needing a ride. She stated, “Currently, if someone calls here for transportation needs we first refer them to the MASCC, but we have also been offering out the Chelsea Senior phone number as a back up option. We can also ask Jewish Family Service (in Ann Arbor) but that is a last resort and only for medical.” Helping seniors find a ride becomes more complicated when it is a last-minute request. Seyfried explained, “We had a request earlier this week from a caseworker in Jackson seeking transportation for a wheelchair-bound person needing a ride to an appointment with less that 24 hours’ notice. We still give out both numbers and ask them to call back if neither option works out. However, if they don’t call back, we don’t ever really know the outcome.”
Munce emphasized that R.O.A.M. is only possible because of community partnerships the Chelsea Senior Center has formed; not only with the Ann Arbor Community Foundation which provided the grants and the Community Resource Center in Manchester which acts as a central location for services for Manchester, but also the 5 Healthy Towns Foundation and St. Joes hospital. R.O.A.M. will be administered by a new half-time Chelsea Community Senior Services staff member. Through a separate Ann Arbor Community Foundations grant, the Chelsea Senior Center will be expanding Chelsea Community Senior Services out to the 5 Healthy Towns communities of Manchester, Grass Lake, Dexter, and Stockbridge as well.
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