Independent Living Center

Starting Monday July 2^nd ILC will have our taxi vouchers once again in Homer and Kenai /Soldotna.

• ·         Discount taxi vouchers are available to people experiencing a disability and for seniors age 60 and older.
• ·         Each rider is first required to have an intake with an ILC advocate before becoming eligible to purchase vouchers.
• ·         There are voucher guidelines for each community that are available at each ILC office.
• ·         Vouchers are good for the duration of the fiscal year, July through the end of the following June.

CARTS plans to bring public transportation back to the southern peninsula

The Central Area Rural Transit Service (CARTS) had discount taxi vouchers for sale in Homer though ILC for many years.  CARTS is currently working on developing a transit plan for Homer and held a meeting at Homer City Hall on May 4^th.  At the meeting they described 4 possible transit options.  They were 1. An option to link communities together via bus service.  2.  Local scheduled point to point services with a bus or van.  3.  Zone service where one or two cars respond to calls and provide transportation between points within the zone.  4. Taxi vouchers that provide a discount for taxi services.  

The participants at the meeting took a non-binding vote and identified their first preference to be a voucher system like the one that had been operating in the past.  The second place preference was zone services.

Each of the four preferences has pros and cons that weigh costs, and efficiency to riders.  The CARTS board will continue to study options and look at available grant funds as well as options for service area boundaries.  CARTS next step will be to present a report to the community stating which option or combination of options they think they can offer to Homer.  CARTS plans on releasing their findings sometime in the fall of 2018.

KBBI radio in Homer attended the meeting and produced a related news story that you can read or listing to here.

Peninsula Clarion article describing the new Ninilchik Village Tribe Bumps bus program and CARTS process to develop a new transportation plan.

http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/local/2018-03-12/ninilchik-launches-homer-kenai-bus-service

The Ninilchik Traditional Council Resource Department  has coordinated a busing program between the communities of Ninilchik, Homer, Kenai, Soldotna with other stops between them.  The services has just recently added the leg between Ninilchik and Homer.

The current schedule offers service on Monday, Wednesday, & Fridays.  Schedules are posted below and may change depending on weather.

The cost is $10 round trip and $7 one way.

You can call ahead with questions.  (907) 567-3815

ILC received a grant from the Alaska State Department of Transportation (DOT) to provide taxi vouchers to eligible consumers that experience a disability or are senior citizens.  Our grant funds for this fiscal year are just about exhausted.  That means that ILC will continue to sell vouchers until the end of February for any approved consumers that have not purchased their February voucher limit and then sales will stop.  We have applied for additional funding for the next fiscal year which will begin on July 1^st.  If more funding becomes available before July 1^st ILC will post an update on here on our web page.  Please feel free to call the Homer office (235-7911) if you have questions about the transportation program and voucher availability.

Any vouchers that we have sold and have not been used are still good.  They can be used any time during this fiscal year which means they are valid through June 30th.