Juneau's paratransit service for seniors has failed riders for nine months

A 96-year-old was left waiting at Foodland when her pickup was booked for the wrong day. Arranging travel for Pioneer Home residents to attend the Symphony took 25 phone calls. SEARHC started running its own shuttle after the service repeatedly failed to get clients to medical appointments. These are the complaints Juneau's Commission on Aging has been raising about Capital AKcess, the city's paratransit provider for seniors and riders with disabilities — and the commission will take them up again Wednesday.

Commission Chair Deborah Craig carried the complaints to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly on July 27. The provider CBJ selected last year "has struggled to provide services as required in the contract for nine months," she testified, saying the contractor lacked the multiple phone lines and voicemail the contract requires. The Assembly renewed the contract in June anyway.

Craig said winter weather sharpens the danger for vulnerable adults who rely on the service for food, medicine and medical appointments. She noted that commission members had met repeatedly with Capital Transit staff and found them responsive, but the problems continued. When Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs asked whether the commission had collected rider accounts, Craig said the commission advises rather than surveys, and suggested the city phone current users directly.

The commission meets Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Downtown Library, moved from Aug. 18 because of the state primary. Also on the agenda: an AARP presentation on its Vital Voices Survey, comparing Juneau and statewide data on housing, transportation, caregiving and whether residents plan to stay in Alaska or move.