Senior citizens in two Orange County cities may not get as many free or cheap rides to community centers, grocery stores and doctor visits in the coming months.
Elected officials in San Clemente and Fullerton are dialing back their respective city-contracted taxi service programs for residents 60 years and older in an effort to save money and try to keep the programs running for the long term.
It comes as Orange County officials struggle to address what is being called a “silver tsunami” – an expected demographic change in a couple of decades when one third of OC residents will be older adults.
[Read: Is Orange County Prepared to Get Old?]
The services help seniors – who don’t drive – run essential outings like grocery shopping and going to the doctor as well as going to community events and social gatherings. They are being scaled down years after a global pandemic left many seniors stuck at home.
Jeanette Reese, a 75-year-old resident in Fullerton, said she was home alone for over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now I teach a dance class. I teach two other classes, but that’s only six hours a week,” she said at Fullerton’s city council meeting Tuesday.
“The rest of the time I’m still home alone, and after a while, it gets very difficult. Emotionally, I certainly considered suicide during COVID, and I decided that some damn virus wasn’t going to cause me to off myself but I think it’s really important that we pay attention to what seniors need.”
The senior taxi services in both cities are funded in part by the Orange County Transportation Authority, which can vary year to year.
Fullerton Dials Back Senior Taxi Services
A view of Downtown Fullerton on Oct. 5, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
Officials in the college town are expected to gradually dial back their senior subsidized taxi services in two phases amid funding concerns after usage of the program shot up last year.
Christian Hernandez, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said rising usage of the program and ride costs – which the city subsidizes – have created a financial shortfall in funding for the services, forcing his department to temporarily cover over $80,000 in costs.
“The city received approximately $176,900 from OCTA to support the program. However, due to the increased usage and ride costs, staff projects a shortfall of approximately $125,000 through the end of the current fiscal year,” he said during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Hernandez added dialing back the services will help stabilize the costs, save between $145,000 to $165,000 a year and allow the program to operate within the available OCTA’s funding .
Last year, seniors took over 14,600 one-way trips through the program mostly for food and doctor appointments, according to Hernandez’s presentation.
Starting March 1, seniors in Fullerton will no longer enjoy free unlimited trips to the local community center for line dancing classes, iPad training, crafting classes and other city programs as officials there will start to phase down the program.
From then until the end of June, older adults will be capped to 30 free round trips per month to the Fullerton Community Center while still getting eight free trips for doctor appointments.
They will also still get eight trips for shopping and recreational purposes like going to the movies, the park or the grocery store and those trips will continue to cost riders $3 for travel within Fullerton and $7 for trips outside the city.
Council members unanimously approved the first phase of changes Tuesday.
Starting in July, seniors would be capped to 20 round trips to the community center and trips to a doctor’s office within Fullerton or 10 miles outside the city is expected to cost riders $2 each way.
Trips to grocery stores will also start costing $2 per way for seniors that month. Seniors will not be allowed to use the taxi service for other recreational outings.
Officials narrowly voted 3-2 on the second phase of changes with Councilman Ahmad Zahra and Councilwoman Shana Charles voting no.
Zahra said the program – a partnership with California Yellow Cab – was a lifeline to seniors and they should find additional funding for the program.
“We need to look at it from that angle and not necessarily try to cut to accommodate our budget, but find the revenue to be able to sustain the program without those cuts,” he said, later calling on his officials to hold off on the July 1 changes.
Councilman Nick Dunlap said the city should look at potentially using federal community development grant money to help fund the program.
“Father Time is undefeated,” he said. “Certainly some of us will need additional help and resources as we get older. I do think to the extent we can maybe try to either backfill or supplement some of the additional funding with CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) money, we should absolutely do that.”
His colleagues supported the idea and most city council members said they could look at funding for the program in the summer as part of the next fiscal year budget.
At the same time, Fullerton is facing a projected $9.3 million deficit next fiscal year that, if left unchecked, could go up to $10 million by the end of the decade, according to the city budget.
The city’s long time financial challenges have led officials to look at drafting two potential 0.5% tax measures – one to fund infrastructure improvements like road repairs and another for public safety.
San Clemente Limits Trips With Exception for Senior Center
Seniors in San Clemente will be limited to eight, free one-way rides per month — with an exception for riders traveling between their homes and the city’s senior center.
Council members approved the new cap unanimously during their Tuesday night meeting and made plans to revisit the issue in June.
The new ridership limitations will go into effect starting on March 1.
Mayor Rick Leoffler said seniors rely on the mobility program to get exercise and access resources at the senior center and suggested those trips should remain unlimited.
“There’s many, many people at the senior center that –that’s how they get from their house to the senior center to do their yoga classes,” Loeffler said at the meeting. “Limiting that to four round-trips a month would be difficult.”
San Clemente has had a no-cost program for riders aged 60 or older since 2002.
The city’s newly-approved contract with OCY Management is set to expire on June 30, when council members said they’ll reevaluate the program and see if any changes are needed regarding trip allowances and funding levels. It’s also when the city’s fiscal year comes to an end.
“Staff will continue to monitor the program and its actual costs and will include recommendations to modify the program as budget permits to stay within acceptable funding limits,” reads the staff report. “Potential modifications to be considered at a future City Council meeting could include charging a per-ride fee, reducing hours of operation, limiting service to weekdays, and/or reducing allowable destinations.”
The program currently lets seniors ride for free to get to parks, libraries, medical appointments, grocery stores, funerals, religious gatherings, community events and more.
The long-term viability of the senior mobility program depends on keeping costs around $135,000 per year, according to the staff report included with the council’s agenda. County transportation funding typically reaches around $108,000 per year.
“Let the seniors that go to the senior center — let them make that round trip,” Loeffler said. “It’s three months until June.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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