By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

Thousand Oaks will no longer subsidize $100 one-way trips between the city and Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills.

It cost the city $177,000 from gas tax revenue to shuttle the 200 passengers who made 1,800 oneway trips to and from the hospital over the past 2½ years.

A town car or a cab costs about $100 for the 17-mile round trip.

With the money that was spent, those shuttle passengers could have taken a one-way trip for $75 in a stretch limousine with amenities such as a TV, CD player and stereo system for their doctors' appointments and saved money.

"I would've liked to have that contract," said Thousand Oaks limousine service owner Tom Heller.

Back in 2006 the city partnered with nonprofit organization Senior Concerns to provide transportation to those over 60 or with disabilities to get from Thousand Oaks to their doctors' appointments at Kaiser Permanente.

"We had been getting requests to provide this transportation from people for a long time," said Mark Watkins, director of public works.

So the city applied for and received a Congestion Mitigation Air Quality grant that wasn't to exceed $212,000 for a three-year pilot program.

Kaiser Permanente didn't contribute to funding for the service.

The goals were to get vehicles off the road and help the disabled and the elderly, Watkins said.

The plan called for the city to stop subsidizing the program after the three-year trial. The hope was that the shuttle would begin to pay for itself once word got out and those who needed the service flocked to use it.

Senior Concerns charged $10 round trip per person for seniors, those with disabilities and those who were assisting them.

The shuttle originally also went to the Warner Center. Later, in hopes of increasing ridership, Senior Concerns added Westfield Topanga shopping mall to the route, said Carol Freeman, president of the organization.

That brought two more passengers who rode once a month a couple of times, Freeman said. "We did everything we could do to keep it going because it is very needed, but unfortunately not by enough people," Freeman said.

The city required a 40 percent fare recovery before it would consider more funding. The Ventura County Transportation Commission requires a 20 percent fare recovery, according to a letter dated July 14 and signed by Freeman and city transit analyst Roy Myers. With only a 6 percent fare recovery, the shuttle was discontinued six months early, at the end of June.

"It clearly never worked. It was not even coming close to covering the costs," Watkins said.

Now Senior Concerns is once again getting calls from those in need of help getting to their Kaiser Permanente medical appointments, she said.

Those calling are now directed to houses of worship and family, friends and neighbors for assistance.

Another source of funding for transporting lowincome individuals in need would be welcome, Freeman said.

The air quality grant covered $142,000. The city's share was $35,000.

No city general funds were used. All of the transit funding came from Transportation Development Act money, fare recovery, federal grants and developer air-quality funds, Myers said.

Funds remaining from the grant total $35,000, which will be returned to the Ventura County Transportation Commission for any other project that might meet requirements. If no project qualifies, the funds will be returned to the federal Transportation Administration for redistribution, Meyers said.