[fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special TransportationService drivers
Kirk
kvharmon54 at gmail.com
Fri Jan 15 21:23:50 GMT 2010
Jesus, I am originally from Miami/Fort Lauderdale. I can definitely
understand your comments on this topic! I am from Orlando now and we are a
large community as well, however our funds, I do believe are kept seperate
yet we still have problems with our Transportation.Your friend in the cause,
Kirk Harmon
----- Original Message -----
From: Jesus Garcia
To: fcb-l at acb.org
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special TransportationService
drivers
Do to the manner in which Para transit is funded in Miami Dade county the
TD question is not relevant. There are no TD trips in Miami Dade, Broward,
or Palm Beach. All three transit agencies take their allotted TD funds and
mix them in to the pot of money for funding all transit trips. This is not
and probably never will be a very popular way to use the TD funding with the
rest of the State. Unfortunately South Florida is the major Urban area of
the State, thus we by far pay the largest amount of State taxes and have by
far the overwhelming number of disabled citizens requiring service. Just as
with the airlines here is a case where numbers do count and will
increasingly count as future energy costs increase. The same will hold true
for any rail projects be they high speed rail or good old standard rail road's.
The fact is that high speed rail do to its enormous capital costs only makes
sense in areas where high population density is available. Unless some
future energy source replaces oil with all of petroleum's advantages becomes
available smaller communities maybe in for a rough ride.
From: fcb-l-bounces at acb.org [mailto:fcb-l-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Easy Talk
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 13:35
To: fcb-l at acb.org
Subject: Re: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special TransportationService
drivers
What amazes me is if this can happen, how many trips that shouldn't be
billed as TD trips are? especially if the CTC does medicade Para transit and
TD trips.
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: bill freeman
To: fcb-l at acb.org ; jesusgar at bellsouth.net
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special TransportationService
drivers
Jesus:
Miami/Dade is not the place that I grew up in over seventy
years ago but even I couldn't really swallow those figures. I was awaiting
your clarification and the real facts. Thank you! As you know, figures don't
lie but liars will figure.
Bill
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From: fcb-l-bounces at acb.org [mailto:fcb-l-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Jesus Garcia
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 12:50 PM
To: fcb-l at acb.org
Subject: Re: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special TransportationService
drivers
Afternoon to all just a brief comment as a long time rider of the system
here in Miami Dade I can assure you that some of these numbers are highly
suspect. No question that fraud took place, however 30 percent of trips in a
three week period is complete nonsense. As with many programs around the
country the transit agency is hoping to use this problem much of which they
created and permitted to drastically slash the service. So, as usual as with
the pyramid scam during the housing bubble the people who pay the price are
the ones who can least afford to pay it.
From: fcb-l-bounces at acb.org [mailto:fcb-l-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Kirk
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 22:51
To: fcb-l at acb.org
Subject: Re: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special Transportation Service
drivers
It sure does Pat! I forwarded dthis to the CEO of Lynx here and a couple
of my rfriends in Public office here as well letting them know that we just
might need to monitor our Para Transit books a bit closer from m now on!
Your friend, Kirk
----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia A. Lipovsky
To: fcb-l at acb.org
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 10:50 PM
Subject: [fcb-l] Subject: Check out Special Transportation Service
drivers
Wow, This makes you wonder if there is fraudulent activity
going on in other areas of Florida.
accused of faking trips ...
In Special <
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1424008.html>
Transportation Service drivers accused of faking trips - Miami-Dade -
MiamiHerald.com
Miami-Dade <
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/index.html>
<http://www.miamiherald.com/>
SPECIAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICE
Special Transportation Service drivers accused of faking trips
More than a dozen Special Transportation Service workers were arrested
on
charges of billing taxpayers for phantom trips for the elderly and
disabled.
BY DAVID OVALLE AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman at MiamiHeral
<mailto:mhaggman at MiamiHerald.com
> d.com
In one case, taxpayers were charged for nearly 100 transit trips
ferrying a
mentally disabled person who hadn't used the service. In another, the
public
was billed for trips by a driver who had died.
In all, authorities said Wednesday, a company employed by Miami-Dade
County's transit agency to transport the elderly and disabled
overbilled
taxpayers at least $212,000 for phantom trips.
Miami-Dade Police arrested 12 drivers and a supervisor Wednesday at
the
county's Special Transportation Service, a division of Miami-Dade
Transit.
The charge: engaging in an organized scheme to defraud. Sixteen arrest
warrants have been issued in all, court records show.
The arrests represent a new chapter in a broader history of waste and
mismanagement that has punctuated Miami-Dade County's stewardship of
the
transit system that included a 2002 half-penny sales tax that promised
far
more than it delivered.
A Miami-Dade Transit audit found that over a three-week period in May
2007,
30 percent of rides documented never took place -- equaling a loss of
$857,000. Auditors projected losses ``expected to exceed $10 million''
the
past five years, the warrant said.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez declined comment through spokeswoman
Victoria Mallette. ``This is an ongoing investigation that we are
taking
very seriously,'' Mallette added in an e-mail.
The round of arrests comes as the lucrative contract to operate
Miami-Dade
Transit's service for elderly and disabled riders who can't use normal
public transit is set to expire in March.
The county's Special Transportation Service, created in 1976, is run
by
Miami-based Advance Transportation Solutions and four subcontractors.
ATS, a
privately-held company, has had the contract since 2001; its latest
deal,
signed with the county in 2004, is worth $219 million.
Each day, ATS and its subcontractors make more than 6,000 trips
ferrying
disabled and elderly residents in buses and sedans across the county,
even
into the Florida Keys. Last year, Miami-Dade Transit spent $43 million
operating the Special Transporation Service.
ATS, in a press release, said it discovered the bogus trips and
immediately
hired retired police detectives to launch an internal investigation.
The
findings were turned over to Miami-Dade police, and the company
reimbursed
the county for the bogus trips.
``The evidence provided by ATS resulted in an extensive police
investigation
culminating in today's arrests,'' the company's statement said.
Yet, it remains unclear if ATS -- which has hired a host of
lobbyists --
will be able to retain the contract.
In a memo to commissioners Wednesday, County Manager George Burgess
wrote
that, after initially planning to extend the ATS contract that expires
in
March, he's changed his mind while county officials review proposals
to run
the transit division under a new five-year contract.
``The seriousness of the charges connected to this ongoing
investigation and
today's arrests and the unanswered questions which they pose with
respect to
the performance of the existing vendor, has affected my ability to
recommend
to the Board any extension of the existing contract,'' Burgess wrote.
Instead, Burgess said he plans to negotiate with a new vendor, who
would run
the transit operation for two years.
Citing escalating costs, some commissioners have proposed curtailing
pricey
services such as transporting riders into Monroe County. Taking the
transit
division in-house, rather than outsourced to a private contractor, has
also
been contemplated.
``We have to make some changes,'' said Commissioner Carlos Gimenez.
In the STS computer system, each rider was assigned a specific number
used
to schedule trips. According to a warrant filed in Miami-Dade Circuit
Court,
the ID numbers were used to book the phantom trips, which were then
billed
to the county.
Supervisor Tesla Narvaez-Waidner, who had complete access to the
booking
system, was ``integral in this fraudulent scheme,'' the warrant said.
She,
like the others arrested, was charged with an organized scheme to
defraud.
One driver, Uriel Granjales, booked 112 trips in the name of one rider
that
never happened, police said. Granjales was booked into a Miami-Dade
jail
Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, eight of the drivers were asked to attend a
county
training meeting in the Miami Dade Transit auditorium.
``We would like your participation in evaluating additional changes,''
wrote
Hugh Chen, Miami-Dade Transit deputy director of operations.
The drivers shuffled into the auditorium for the purported training
session
-- and were arrested.
__._,_.___
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