Great work Gold Country LIFT! theunion/news/14182469-113/mobile-lift-parks-gold For the first time, free public bus transportation is now available to residents of five mobile home parks along Highway 49 south of Grass Valley and north of Alta Sierra. Michelle Johnson, general manager of Gold Country Lift, said the service to the mobile home parks started Monday and will continue for three days per week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On those days, Gold Country Lift will run four fixed routes per day to bus stops at the five mobile home parks and back to the Tinloy Transit Center at Tinloy and Bank streets, in downtown Grass Valley. At the transit center, passengers can disembark and walk to downtown, or they can transfer to one of the fixed bus routes run through Gold Country Stage. Mobile home parks on the new route include Tall Pines, Mountain Air, Ponderosa Pines, Forest Springs and Grass Valley mobile home parks. “It’s very exciting,” Johnson said. “The service wasn’t available down in that area before.” The first trip will begin at about 9 a.m. and the last trip departs Tinloy Transit Center at 3:20 p.m., she said. Schedules are available at each of the mobile home park offices, Johnson added. Mobile home residents who are not able to get to the bus stops can arrange for special pickups on demand. Johnson said the special pickups — also referred to as deviated routes — will be available if arranged 24 hours in advance through the Gold Country Lift offices, 530-271-7433. Johnson said the new service is the result of a federal grant award to Gold Country Lift in late November. The grant came through the Area 4 Agency on Aging, which covers the Sierra foothills and surrounding counties. Gold Country Lift already runs on-demand, prescheduled pickups for qualified residents around the Grass Valley service area, but this is their first so-called “fixed deviated route,” Johnson said. “I think people will really like it,” she said. “It gives them a lot more flexibility.” Although the grant is targeted for seniors, all residents from the mobile home parks can ride the new bus routes, Johnson said. A majority of the residents are seniors in any case, she said. “I’ve worked with fixed deviated routes in the past, in other locations, and they’ve been very successful,” Johnson said. “We just need to educate folks and provide travel tips.” For more information on schedules, visit the Gold Country Lift office at 900 Whispering Pines Lane, Grass Valley, or call 530-271-7433. To contact Staff Writer Keri Brenner, email kbrenner@theunion or call 530-477-4239.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 03:41:02 +0000
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