Volunteers Needed for 'Historic' Transportation Study in Ramona

Ramona residents who need to take public transportation to medical appointments or job interviews have repeatedly expressed concern over diminishing services.

RideFACT—a senior transportation project—was canceled, partly due to low ridership, and North County Transit District (NCTD) has cut back its services in the past few years, leaving Ramonans with a FLEX service.

Now, a "historic" study of residents' needs is being planned by Ramona Transportation Action Committee (RTAC), Cal State San Marcos National Latino Research Center and the Community Action Council (CAC) of Palomar Pomerado Health.

The study could be used to advocate for services, LaVonna Connelly, chairwoman of RTAC, told Patch. Connelly is also coordinator of the CAC transportation action committe which serves Ramona, Julian and Warner Springs. 

"We're happy to be doing real transportation research," Connelly said. "We need to assess ourselves and see what we want. The survey isn’t to be taken lightly because it’s the first step. It’s the first one of its kind in the county and once we do ours, we anticipate others will follow. It’s actually historic."

Connelly said volunteer data collectors are needed, along with people to take the survey. Volunteers will be given training. They can simply gather information, face to face, from family, friends, colleagues, friends of friends and anyone interested in contributing. Volunteers will not be expected to sit in front of supermarkets, for example, she said. Both the data collectors and respondents must be age 18 or older.

The names of all volunteers and respondents will go into a drawing for four $50 incentives, Connelly said. The money is provided by the CAC.

For further information, contact Connelly at lavonna@connelly.com.

NCTD's current FLEX service includes: two morning and two afternoon trips between Ramona and Escondido, along Route 371; one midday trip each way along Route 372; and one on-demand weekday trip within Route 370.

Metropolitan Transit System also offers service to rural areas, including Ramona.