Stonington makes plan to replace little-used SEAT bus service

New program will save approximately $9,000

Stonington — The town has come up with a plan to replace the underused SEAT bus service with a new program that will use vans provided by the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center.

The town has been looking for an alternative to SEAT because an average of just 22 riders a day use the SEAT bus in town and the town’s cost this year increased from $14,000 to $24,000. Town officials worry that as state aid to SEAT continues to decrease, the cost to the town will rise even further.

While SEAT service continues to operate here, the town is paying SEAT on a monthly basis, which will allow it to cancel the service when the new plan is ready to be implemented.

The new plan is a joint effort between the neighborhood center and the town Human Services Department. Neighborhood Center Executive Director Susan Sedensky explained to the Board of Finance on Wednesday night that the center

currently uses two vans and a sedan to provide free rides to local supermarkets with banks and pharmacies, as well as to medical appointments for residents of Stonington, North Stonington and Westerly who are 60 and older. The new program will expand that to include those with disabilities regardless of age. Many of the riders who use the current SEAT Service live in Stonington Arms, Brookside Village and Edythe K. Richmond Homes, where many of the tenants fit into these two categories.

The cost of the new plan will be $15,300, which will pay for gas and a part-time dispatcher to schedule the trips. This will provide an approximate savings of $9,000 compared to using SEAT.

Meanwhile, the Human Services Department will work to provide alternative transportation to get the handful of people who are younger and not disabled and use SEAT to get to work.

Lynn Young and other finance board members, who eventually will have to transfer money from the account to pay SEAT to the neighborhood center to fund the program, expressed concerns Wednesday that the cost of the PNC program will rise as word spreads that it is more convenient and provides better service than SEAT.

Board member Glenn Frishman, though, pointed out that the cost for SEAT also will rise as its state funding continues to decline.

Board Chairwoman June Strunk said the program will provide better service for residents while board member Danielle Chesebrough said the money will now go to a local nonprofit organization instead of SEAT.