Officials celebrate arrival of new GLSS vehicles

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said she is perhaps the only mayor who can attest to the importance of the Greater Lynn Senior Services transportation from a personal standpoint.”I was a driver for The Ride for three years,” she said. “When you’re riding in a new vehicle, for riders and drivers, it makes all the difference.”Kennedy along with Congressman John Tierney, state Sen. Thomas McGee, state Rep. Steven Walsh and more than a dozen officials and Senior Center patrons celebrated Tuesday the arrival of nine new GLSS vehicles.GLSS Executive Director Paul Crowley said altogether 18 vans were obtained via grant from the Federal Executive Office of Transportation and the state Department of Transportation.”It’s a competitive bid process with an 80/20 split,” he said. “GLSS will put up 20 percent of the cost and 80 percent comes from the government.””The federal split makes it all the easier for Paul to do his job,” Kennedy added.Collectively the GLSS fleet has 287 vans that Kennedy said make about 2,000 trips per day. Crowley said the vehicles are used for The Ride, which transports the disabled in and around Boston as well as 22 other communities north of the city. In addition, GLSS also gives rides to seniors, age 60 and older, in Lynn, Lynnfield, Nahant, Saugus and Swampscott to medical appointments and day programs, and for some, work related rides.Rachael Adeyemi said she uses The Ride to get back and forth to the Senior Center and she appreciates the new vans.”It is very important to me,” she said. “I clean houses one day a week and I go to the Senior Center to see friends about three times a week.”Tierney said when people think about government transportation bills they think highways and bridges “but it’s much, much more. It also funds programs like these.”Gathered outside at the GLSS transportation garage at 330 The Lynnway, speakers had to work to be heard over the din of a bucket truck moving large rocks on a lot next door.”I’m overwhelmed a little by the noise but it’s good because that’s another investment in transportation right there,” McGee said.McGee said Lynn is the second largest user of The Ride in the commonwealth and that grants such as these “invariably will change lives.”GLSS Transportation Director Randy Hendrickson said the first nine vans arrived in May, and have already racked up 31,336 miles and handled over 5,000 rides.”We’re looking forward to getting the next nine to keep people connected,” he said.Crowley said the vans have a life expectancy of seven-plus years and cost about $60,000 each.”We’re required to provide certain services under the grant for seven and a half years,” he said. “After that we can expand the use for however long they last.”The oldest van in the entire fleet dates back to 2005, he added.Kennedy joked that there are days when she misses driving The Ride.”I love driving and I loved the people I met, and I loved the attitude of the people I drove,” she said.