The Wrangell Senior Center wants to buy another bus for moving people around town, adding a four-wheel-drive vehicle to its operation, but it could be 2024 before the bus gets to town.
The senior center already operates two buses, one for people and one for deliveries, but neither is four-wheel-drive, said Solvay Gillen, site manager at the senior center. Buying a four-wheel-drive bus would be helpful in the winter, she said.
“Some of those roads are difficult to access in the wintertime,” Gillen said. “It makes a huge difference.”
The $135,000 bus from Schetky Bus & Van Sales, the vendor the senior center has bought its buses from in the past, with locations in Oregon and Washington, would have cost $90,000 before the global supply chain slowdown snagged it, like so many other orders and supplies, and inflated the cost.
The bus likely will not arrive until 2024, said April Huber, nutrition and transportation regional coordinator at Southeast Senior Services, a division of Catholic Community Service, which operates the Wrangell Senior Center. She said based on shortages, it will take a year to get one after they place the order. And they still need to secure the funds.
As part of that effort to cover the cost, the Wrangell Coordinated Transportation Group held a remote video meeting last Thursday as required to be eligible for state funds from the Department of Transportation’s 2023 grant cycle.
The group is seeking a grant to cover 80% of the cost of the bus, with a local match of 20%, said Marianne Mills, Southeast Senior Services program director at Catholic Community Service in Juneau.
Meanwhile, the center hired a second driver on Monday, Gillen said, which should help fill gaps in services for seniors and people with disabilities.
Sara Aleksieva, senior center bus driver, spoke at the virtual meeting about how nice it would be to have a driver available later in the day. The center’s bus is not always available to take seniors shopping for groceries, to religious services, or even just out and about when they want a change of scenery, she said.
Alicia Gillen, executive assistant at SEARHC, said seniors use the bus to get to their medical appointments, and residents in long-term care use it to get around.
Lansing Hayes, a Wrangell senior, who will be offering an upcoming tai chi class at the center, said, “I only ride the bus.”
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